Community Engagement - Your Views
Published: 22 November 2016
Following the formation of the Bognor Regis Town Council’s new Community Engagement & Environment (CE&E) Committee earlier this year, Members and Officers have been working hard to find a suitable format for meetings to fulfil both the legislative requirements of the Council and to also allow engagement with the Community and an opportunity for residents to air their views and opinions.
Therefore, Council decided that a new open engagement forum should be held at the end of the CE&E Committee meetings, after the formal meeting had closed. The forum would be open to all and would be a round table session for all interested parties to discuss issues with Members of the Committee.
The first session of this new forum was held when the Committee met in November. Following this meeting, Members who were present at the open forum have taken on board criticism that residents may be reluctant to sit through the formal meeting, which can sometimes be lengthy, before the open forum begins.
The main premise behind the new CE&E Committee is the engagement with the community and therefore Members are keen to get the format of the forums working well for everyone.
One suggestion has been to hold a series of open engagement forums, between scheduled meetings, at various times and locations. Anything that arises from these open engagement forums, which is within the Councils power to address, will be placed on the agenda for the next Committee Meeting for Councillors to discuss formally and take decisions where necessary. Dialogue between the Committee and the open forums will continue with any decisions taken by Council, fed back through the next meeting of the forum.
As always, members of the public will continue to be welcome to attend any formal meetings of the Council or its Committees and there is always an opportunity for the public to address Members on issues of concern.
This new Committee is a new enterprise for the Council and all Members are keen to see it succeed. Please therefore let us have your views on the suggested revised format before the issue is considered and decided by the Council in the New Year and help us get to where we ALL want to be.