The PFR Unit supported Officers from Thurrock Council’s Growth & Strategy Section of their Planning Department, working with colleagues from other Council Departments, to deliver the Issues and Options stage consultation of their Local Plan.   The project was delivered under the title “Your Place Your Voice” and consisted of two stages of engagement:

• 2018: Stage 1 comprised 16 community planning events across 13 areas and sought to gather the views of residents at a local / settlement level; and
• 2019: Stage 2 comprised of 9 principal events and 10 informal drop-in sessions sought to gather the views of residents at a strategic level looking at Thurrock as a whole and gathered suggestions around the location and type of housing, employment facilities, and leisure opportunities as well as opinions about improving wellbeing and public spaces.

Both stages of engagement were delivered through a “road show” approach with activities designed to be as visual and interactive as possible offering residents a range of ways in which they could put their views forward.

For the Stage 1 engagement the activities included

• The Things we think we know – validation board – designed to test with residents whether or not the assumptions made about communities and comments received from previous consultation were “still correct”, “no longer correct”, or whether residents were “unsure”. 
• Your “Place” storyboard – designed to create a conversation about how places could change in the future.  A pictorial storyboard was created for each location in which the “road show” was held.
• Issues and opportunities model – a mapping activity based on the Planning for Real process enabling residents to highlight key issues and areas of opportunity. 
• Postcards from the future – residents drew a picture on the front of a “postcard” of what they thought the area would look like in 30 years’ time and on the reverse wrote a message to their “present2 self from their “future” self.
• What’s stopping you – used to identify what the main barriers to physical activity were in an area.   In response to the question “what is stopping you from being more physically active” residents wrote their reasons on a “road block” card and pinned it to the “running track” display panel.
• Go directly to – this activity was aimed at improving the Council’s understanding about which facilities / services could be co-located and to improve signposting to key facilities. 

Stage 2 activities

Stage 2 of the Issues and Options consultation again used a range of interactive activities this time looking at the whole district of Thurrock to gather residents’ views on a range of strategic issues. The activities included:

• Fill in the <Blanks> – large boards designed to find out what residents felt was needed across a range of topics including: who were homes needed for;  what was  needed in town centres; what would make an area a healthier place to live; and what was needed to support the local Economy.  Under each “topic / question” were a series of pictorial options against which residents, through the use of dots, could give their views with space to add their own additional comments on post it notes.
• Spatial Options Maps – a set of maps of Thurrock displaying a range of different options for growth.
• Development Issues and Opportunities Map – a map of the whole of Thurrock was displayed along with a range of strategic level option cards and blank “Your Idea” cards for residents to use to put their views forward.  The Topics covered were:  Environment, Community, Economic, Housing, and Transport & Infrastructure.

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