Consultation can be defined as:
"a dynamic process of dialogue between individuals or groups, based on a genuine exchange of views, and normally with the objective of influencing decisions, policies or programmes of action." (The Consultation Institute, 2003)
While the trend across Ireland is for more consultation, on more issues with more consultees, there is an increasing sense that not many organisations do it that well.
Indeed, agencies are often suspected of running ‘token’ consultations: where decisions have been made already and the views of the public will not change the outcome. On the other side of the coin, agencies now often find it difficult to get the public to participate in their consultation processes. When this happens, both the agency and the local community lose out. In the planning context, this can often result in adversarial outcomes with communities objecting and lodging appeals when development proposals are brought forward.
Also many organisations are suffering from “consultation fatigue”: they would like to respond to a consultation but just don’t have the resources, the time or the staff to cope with the onslaught of consultations. The result: responses are not good; people switch off; a missed opportunity for both policy-makers and the community.
Consultation and how to do it has become a very specialised field, and has been the subject of many thick textbooks and lengthy conferences. However, there are some very useful best-practice user-friendly resources being developed in Ireland and these can be downloaded below:
- The Monaghan Model - A guide to Best Practice in Community Consultation (2005) - The ‘Monaghan Model’ was prepared by the Monaghan County Development Board in 2005. Initially, as a response to several requests from agencies for our input into new plans and programmes, the idea was to have a toolkit to help us to represent the community as effectively as possible. It was soon realised that there was also a piece of work to be done in giving guidance to the agencies on how they could get the best out of consulting with the community. And so this Guide was born.
- Village Design Statement Programme in Ireland (Heritage Council) - The Heritage Council Village Design Statement Programme was introduced in 2000 with a particular emphasis placed on the conservation and management of local heritage. The focus of the VDS Programme is to raise public awareness of heritage assets and to provide design guidelines to enhance and protect local distinctiveness and local heritage features. They have quickly become models of local community collaborative planning with the Julianstown Village Design Statement launched in 2010.