Delivering an engagement process to explore diverse community views and expectations
Situation Explained
Sunshine Coast Council engaged LPC to support the delivery of Phase 1 community and stakeholder engagement for a master plan to guide the future of Point Cartwright Reserve and La Balsa Park. Point Cartwright Reserve and La Balsa Park are two well-loved public open spaces in Buddina.
People use the reserve and park for a variety of recreational experiences including nature trails, the beach, pet walking, boating, cycling, paragliding, picnics, playgrounds, snorkelling, surfing, fishing, diving, and enjoying the views and open space.
Data collected from visitation counts show that up to 3700 people can visit the reserve in a single day.
The purpose of Phase 1 engagement was to understand the community’s recreational, ecological and cultural values for the area.
LPC supported the delivery of Council’s community and stakeholder engagement plan.
Our Approach
The engagement process was designed around capturing three key values about Point Cartwright Reserve and La Balsa Park; specifically, what do community members and stakeholders:
- love about the spaces
- see as issues and challenges with the use and management of the spaces
- have as ideas for future use and management of the spaces.
When considering the local context, community passion for the spaces and growing population in the surrounding area, a meaningful engagement approach was vital.
Leisa Prowse Consulting worked with Sunshine Coast Council to:
- design and facilitate a 2-hour community workshop, which included small group discussions and a Mentimeter word cloud activity
- cleanse and analyse survey data, which included quantitative and qualitative elements
- present the engagement findings to the community reference group, Councillors and internal working group
- summarise the engagement process in a Community and Stakeholder Engagement Report.
Other engagement activities were delivered by Sunshine Coast Council, including pop-up events and a school visioning workshop, and were discussed in the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Report.
Results
The project team navigated complexities in delivering engagement activities and management of emerging issues. There were diverse community views presented throughout the engagement process, particularly about the differing views on off-leash dog access.
Throughout the engagement process,
- 2,400 survey responses were completed online and at pop-up events
- 30 community members attended the community workshop
We analysed over 10,000 pieces of feedback captured during the engagement period.
Feedback captured provided insight into the many varied ways community members and stakeholders use the space and what makes it special, the issues and challenges they perceive and ideas for the future of the space. While the feedback provided was diverse, key themes indicated that the community value the natural environment and the opportunity for social and recreational activities.