The task of representing a diverse and mobile mix of communities, groups and individuals is a complex one. After all, some groups can be very hard to engage. However, the broader your range of approaches to community contact, the more people you are likely to reach.
In addition to representing individual voters, you should try to keep in touch with:
- local opinion formers such as action groups and community group leaders, residents’ association chairs, leaders of leisure groups, local media, and ‘stalwarts’ of the community
- highly mobile groups, including students who pass through a community quickly without ever becoming involved in it – in some areas, up to a third of the residents move between one election and the next
- groups that are differentiated by age, such as young people, or those who are occasionally described as ‘hard to reach’ or ‘seldom heard’ groups, for example, underrepresented BAME communities.
What groups might you be less likely to reach?
What can you do about it?
Making yourself known
How do you make yourself known to local residents?
Make yourself known to residents in your local area by using the following communications channels:
- websites – your council's, your political party's, your own, blogging sites
- social media and remote meeting technology
- newsletters
- council publicity
- posters, contact cards, leaflets
- letters to local organisations and local press
- local media
- other organisations' publications
- local events
- meetings in the ward – housing, residents associations, and so on.
What you say must be kept professional and in line with your role as councillor (that is, what you signed up to in
agreement when you were elected). If in doubt, you should check the protocols with your political group and the council as a whole.
The council is required to represent the interests of the whole community.
Discovering the needs of different groups in the community is an important part of your role. Occasionally, there will be conflicts of interest requiring sensitive judgment, for example, dog owners, parents of young children and walkers might disagree about the use of a local leisure park.
Representing these different views in an open and reasoned way is a crucial part of your role. In doing so, you will often need to act for both individuals and neighbourhood groups.
This will require skills in:
- listening
- questioning
- advocacy
- conveying information.
Listening
Actively find out what people think and want. This can be done by knocking on doors or walking around estates, or by seeking out groups that you may not know well, for example, parent and toddler groups, local youth organisations, faith groups. You may prefer to use organised surgeries to meet people face to face and discuss the issues that keep them awake at night.
Questioning
Use sympathetic questioning to get to 'the heart' of an issue, to generate thoughts and ideas and to challenge extreme views, uninformed opinions and misleading information.
Advocacy
Ensure that local voices are heard when issues are debated and decisions are taken. This can often involve speaking up for those people whose views are underrepresented, unspoken or frequently ignored.
Facilitating
Helping individuals and groups to come together to discuss issues affecting the ward, to debate different points of view and to reach consensus on solutions that may meet local needs.
Conveying information
Talk to people and providing information in plain English to enable them to understand local government services and processes, for example, avoid using council jargon and technical or legal language.
Using social and digital media
Your ability to communicate effectively and sensitively in the virtual world will do much to enhance your effectiveness as a councillor. But it is important to follow the rules and procedures set out by your council for doing this. You should always keep the content you publish professional at all times, and in accordance with what you signed up to when you were elected.
Local campaigns
As part of your ward work you may become involved in, or lead, local campaigns. This could involve anything from campaigning for a zebra crossing to starting a credit union. In supporting a local campaign, you should consider:
- carrying out some consultation to find out how widespread support for the idea is
- helping to organise a campaign group that brings together people who can assist
- organising petitions or public meetings
- helping people to make presentations to, or ask questions at, committees
- bringing different groups together to negotiate solutions
- engaging the local media and publicising the campaign on your website, blog or social media channels.
Possible tensions and challenges in your ward role include:
- ward interests versus wider council interests
- getting things done versus consulting widely
- strategic needs versus local objections
- balanced views versus single interest politics
- asking for views versus avoiding tokenism.
Activity 4 – Community engagement: whose voice is it anyway?
Imagine the council has asked you to represent the views of your constituents in the following situations. How would you seek views in these situations and who would you speak to?
- Gathering user views on a pilot scheme of recently-introduced wheeled bins for the recycling of home compost.
- Identifying how well local leisure services are meeting the needs of the community.
- Identifying what support there is for a local skateboard park for young people.
Consider the answers you have given above:
- How many times have you actually consulted people in this way?
- How often do you give your thoughts on people’s likely views without taking the trouble to canvas their opinions?