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Public participation is a winner all round

Maroochy Shire Council always knew its Public Participation Program was a winner, but an international award has now formally recognised Council for its efforts in involving the community in decision making. In March this year, Maroochy Shire Council was awarded the ‘Organisation of the Year’ in this year’s International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Core Values Awards. Two awards are presented annually, one for a project and one to an organisation, which exemplify the spirit and purpose of public participation.

Maroochy’s Public Participation Program has also previously been recognised for its excellence with a second place in the 2003 Queensland Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Local Government – Smart State - Community Building Category.

Carrying out public participation that is values based, objectives driven and decision oriented are the three foundations that equate to the success of Maroochy Shire Council’s Public Participation Program.

The program was officially launched in May 2003 following extensive development and input from both internal and external stakeholders.

While public participation has been a long standing practice of Maroochy Shire Council, in the past, a lack of consistency in practices existed which restricted its interaction with the community. There was also a lack of clarity about when, how and what level of participation was required and a great diversity of practice skills and community knowledge across the organisation. These challenges provided the impetus that led the organisation to embrace the principles and values of a good public participation program.

Maroochy defines public participation as ‘providing opportunities for people who are affected by or interested in a Council decision to participate in the decision making process in order to enhance the resulting decision, planning or project’.

Maroochy’s Public Participation Program is the first of its kind in Queensland. It comprises the following elements:

• Policy – provides a high level overview of the best practice public participation standards.
• Strategy – contains practice principles, determined outcomes and Maroochy’s six step approach.
• Training Program – comprehensive training in practice principles, framework and toolkit.
• Manual and Toolkit – practical, step by step process with planning templates and worksheets.
• Software register – corporate database of public participation events.
• Champions – management group and staff driving it across the organisation.

Three particular aspects of the program have revolutionised public participation for the Council and the community. These innovative elements include:

• Knowing the purpose of the public participation project prior to approaching the community. Knowing the purpose is about identifying what decision/s are being made, the role of the decision maker, and making all aspects clear to the community.
• Knowing what level of influence the community has on the decision/s and being transparent with the community. The Maroochy Public Participation Program strategy has been adapted from the IAP2 model, which indicates the different levels of influence stakeholders can have on a decision.
• Providing feedback to community participants after the public participation has been completed (closing the loop). Ensuring the participants are fully informed on how input affects the resulting decision/s.

Council considers the Maroochy Public Participation Program to be a new community capacity building initiative for the organisation and the community. Nowhere before has a Local Government developed a completely integrated approach to social and community planning. The innovative framework fosters a Council wide consistency in the planning, implementing, evaluating and reporting of public participation.

Maroochy is changing its culture in regards to public participation and Council knows that good public participation results in better decisions.

Community participation helps resolve major traffic planning issues in Mooloolaba

One of the most successful public participation projects Council has undertaken was the recently adopted traffic plan for the future management of Mooloolaba’s major traffic and transport corridor.

The final traffic plan was the culmination of a six month, comprehensive integrated land use and transport study, including extensive public participation. Prior to undertaking any form of public participation, a great deal of time was put into the proper planning for this potentially controversial issue.

This project involved different consensus building techniques where both Council employees and the public participants developed selection criteria for different traffic options and rated each option against the selection criteria. The end result was a decision that reflected the community’s feedback through the process, and a feeling of resonance among participants that the process Council undertook to reach the final decision was meaningful and transparent.

Other examples of where decisions have been made with public participation include the Maroochy Rating Reference Group, the Coolum Integrated Transport Study and the Maroochydore Civic Square.

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