Revised Community Engagement Strategy and Policy

Have your say on the revised Community Engagement Strategy and Policy.

The Community Engagement Policy is a framework for effective consultation practices that build community relationships and gather valuable stakeholder feedback to inform Council’s decision making.

Council's Community Engagement Strategy outlines the way we prepare to engage with the community, and it assists residents and other stakeholders to understand how and when Council will engage on issues that affect them. 

The Community Engagement Strategy and Policy are reviewed every four years (a Council term), to ensure they continue to meet the needs and desires of the community.

The review took the following into consideration:

• assessment of the existing documents against legislative requirements
• a desktop review of best practice
• Integrated Planning Report (IPR) compliance and quality audit
• Council’s 2023 Community Wellbeing Survey
• lessons learnt from recent engagement activities
• review of Council Advisory Committees
• consulting with internal stakeholders 

The revised Strategy also includes:

Advisory Committees and Project Reference Groups

The revised draft Strategy also includes Project Reference Groups; established for particular projects that may be multi-staged or be delivered over a longer time period. They consist of a mix of community members with an interest or expertise in the project subject matter. They assist Council for the term of the project, providing an opportunity to tap into the community and/or experts for particular matters. 

Council will have four Advisory Committees that provide strategic advice and assistance on specific topics for the term of Council. 

The committees for this term include: 

1. Access and Inclusion 

2. Active and Integrated Transport 

3. Bushland and Natural Heritage 

4. Sustainability

Community Engagement Policy

The review of the Community Engagement Policy has resulted in negligible changes, such as edits to update dates, titles of roles, as well as an expanded definition of community engagement.

View the draft Community Engagement Strategy and draft Policy on the right hand side in the Exhibition Documents. There are two versions of each - one shows in red text where changes have been made to the content and the second one has no markups.

How to get involved

You can have your say and provide your feedback on the Community Engagement Strategy and Policy by:

• Completing the form below
  
  
• Emailing email@willoughby.nsw.gov.au(External link)
  
  
• Writing to Willoughby City Council, PO Box 57, Chatswood 2067

Submissions close Sunday 16 February 2025.