Drawing on industry knowledge and experience to support the delivery of the Better Planning for Queensland Community Engagement Toolkit.
Situation Explained
The Better Planning for Queensland Community Engagement Toolkit was developed by the Queensland Government to support the delivery of effective community engagement in plan-making throughout Queensland. It was published in conjunction with the commencement of the Planning Act 2016.
The toolkit aims to help local government to develop community engagement stategies to support preparing new local planning instruments and amending existing instruments.
Leisa Prowse Consulting was engaged to provide strategic advice in relation to best practice engagement and how it could be delivered in the planning context. Our team provided advice about gaps in the draft document, and the tone of the document. It was important that the toolkit added value to, and supported, other toolkits and frameworks already in place in local government.
Leisa Prowse Consulting worked with the Department to:
- address the identified gaps
- respond to community and stakeholder suggestions following engagement on the draft
- finalise the toolkit for publication
- ensure that the toolkit provided best practice, yet practical, community and stakeholder engagement advice.
Our Approach
Leisa Prowse Consulting delivered the review and update of the draft Community Engagement Toolkit across three stages with Stages 2 and 3 delivered concurrently.
Stage 1 included:
- reviewing the draft toolkit prepared by the department
- identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement including reviewing the toolkit against other toolkits in Australia and internationally, and IAP2 award winning projects
- capturing ideas from IAP2 Ambassadors
- capturing ideas from organisations that work with particular sectors of the community.
Stages 2 and 3 included:
- updating 19 tools in the draft toolkit
- developing 14 new tools
- preparing case studies
- updating six sections of the draft toolkit
- preparing one new section of the draft toolkit
- revising sections of the draft toolkit to address submissions received during the engagement process
- providing advice to a team of young planners developing an online tool designed to help planners select potential engagement tools.
Results
The ultimate deliverable was a revised Community Engagement Toolkit ready for publishing online to support the commencement of the Planning Act 2016 in July 2017. Delivering this project required engagement with local government and state government stakeholders, and a solid understanding of how government can build trust with communities throughout planning processes and projects.
The project received a Sustainable Development Goals Certificate at the IAP2 Australasia Core Values Awards 2019.