A Guide to Local Authority Consultation with the Motorist

The Motorists' Forum set up a Consultation Working Group to consider the way local authorities consult with motorists. This decision arose through a concern that whilst other forms of transport users, such as cyclists, walkers and public transport users, have active and well organised groups representing their interests at a local level, motorists have no such organised voice to speak on their behalf. Effective consultation ought to ensure that as far as possible, everyone, including motorists, feel that they have had an opportunity to express their views and that their interests have been taken into account.

Membership of the Group consisted of representatives from the AA, the RAC Foundation, MORI, the Local Government Association, the National Consumers Council, the Confederation of British Industry and the National Federation of Women's Institute. The Group's findings were put to the Forum Plenary on 2 July.

The work of the Group was restricted to looking at the informal consultation to be conducted by local authorities in the pre-decision phase as distinct from formal consultations in connection with draft Orders. Our work was also geared specifically to ensuring that motorists had an opportunity to feed their views into the consultation process as Road User Charging and Workplace Parking Levy schemes are introduced.

It should be stressed that the Group is not looking for special consideration to be given to motorists. The aim of the Group is simply to ensure that local authorities consult effectively with motorists, thereby ensuring that this group has the opportunity, if they so wish, to understand the issues and options and to be part of the process that led to the decisions taken by the authorities.

The purpose of this document is to provide authorities with an opportunity to test the consultation process they are adopting against a set of guidelines devised especially with the motorist in mind. Annex A sets out advice on the key guidelines. Annex B is a checklist of guidelines. If authorities can show that their consultation has met the guidelines set out in the checklist, the Group will be satisfied that the Government's clear commitment to ensure that local authorities have consulted properly - including with motorists - before charging schemes are introduced has been met.

The attached document is concerned solely with the Group's findings about the key guidelines it considers authorities should adopt in their consultation with motorists. It does not try to impart all aspects of good consultation. This is something we look to the Department to ensure that local authorities do indeed adopt.

Annex A:
Key Guidelines to be Adopted by Local Authorities in their Consultation with Motorists

1. The Government has already given clear assurances that "we expect the most serious consultation with motorists.the general public..and also members of motoring organisations". [Keith Hill, Transport Act Committee Stage, 7 March 2000]. This Report is designed to provide local authorities with an opportunity to test the consultation process they are adopting against a set of guidelines devised especially with the motorist in mind.

2. The Report does not recommend that existing procedures used by local authorities in consulting with the motorist should be discontinued automatically. The key point is that these measures should meet fully the Government's clear commitment to proper consultation with the motorist before charging schemes are introduced. It is for this reason therefore that the Motorists' Forum recommends that authorities should refine, where necessary, their existing procedures or introduce new ones to meet the guidelines laid down in this Report to ensure that the Government's commitment in this area has been met.

Identifying motorists affected by the proposals being consulted on

3. In deciding which motorists should be approached for their views on the proposals that are being consulted on, local authorities need to identify the type of motorist who will be affected by the proposals. Such groups may include:

• Commuters
• Professional drivers
• Business users
• Shoppers
• Users of local services (such as hospitals)
• Those taking/collecting children from school
• Tourists
• Long distance traffic
• Disabled people
• Those from outside the area who will nevertheless be affected by the proposal
• Those engaged in leisure and entertainment activities

4. The above is not a prescriptive list. Authorities should ensure that they give careful consideration to the impact that their proposals will cause and ensure that the appropriate type of motorist is identified and consulted with.

5. Authorities may also wish to consider whether it is appropriate to consult those who live in their community who drive but may not be car users at the current time.

6. In addition to consulting individual motorists, authorities should look to involve expert road user representative bodies at an early stage in the consultation process.

Communicating with identified types of motorists

7. Once authorities have identified the type of motorists who will be affected by the proposals, they will need to establish the best way to communicate with this group. An outreach facility should be established for each group that is identified.

8. So, for example, motorists who are shoppers could be approached in shopping centres; those using local services could be approached via libraries, doctors' surgeries and hospitals; tourists could be approached via hotels, car parks, car hire operators and key visitor attractions. In the case of business users, authorities may need to contact the business itself, rather than or in addition to the individual driver, to ensure they understand the business needs of their staff as motorists and how any proposal will impact on the business.

9. Particular attention should be given to consultation with disabled motorists. Consultation should not only be conducted with local disabled groups but also with disabled people who travel in and out of the area. Written consultation documents should be made available to visually impaired people in a format suitable to allow them to contribute to the debate.

10. It is important that in their consultation with identified types of motorists, authorities should ensure a representative sample of the motoring public is approached, including proportional splits by age, gender, employment status and socio-economic group. It is particularly important that the views of motorists in C1/C2/D social class definitions should be sought.

11. Whatever means are identified as a way of communicating with the type of motorists who will be affected by the proposals, it is possible that not all interested parties will be reached effectively. Special consideration should be given to consulting hard to reach groups.

12. Other approaches may therefore be necessary. They should include:

• Full use of the local media. This can be an effective way to let people know a consultation process is taking place and what is envisaged.
• Erecting road signs in the area in which the proposals will come into force (if enacted) detailing what is proposed and to whom comments should be sent.
• Targeting relevant newspapers and magazines (eg motoring and other specialised journals).
• Targeted mailings and e-mail notifications.
• Face to face presentations and discussions of the proposals with motorists. Such meetings should be arranged at a time convenient to those to be consulted and not during the middle of a working day.
• Funding outreach activity by umbrella groups or independent facilitators.

13. Once motorists are involved in the consultation process, it is vital that the scope and limitation of what is on offer is communicated. The sort of information that should be provided includes:

• The purpose and aims of the consultation
• The status of the consultation - what can be changed as a result
• The background to the issue being discussed
• When authorities will consult and with whom
• How the process of consultation will be monitored
• Who is responsible for the consultation
• How feedback will be given
• What will happen after the consultation exercise is completed
• The decisions that have been taken and on what grounds

14. Authorities will need to consider the most effective consultation format (see Available Consultation Tools section). This should consist of far more than the written format. However, where authorities do decide to issue a consultation document, it should be simple, concise and easy for motorists to respond to. A summary should be included which should aim to help motorists focus on difficult and contentious issues. The document should make it clear how responses should be submitted and where they should be sent. It should also include a consultation timetable.

15. Generally, consultation should be publicised by a press release or similar announcement. Written documents should always be available free of charge on a website from the moment of publication (or as soon as possible thereafter), ideally in a range of formats. Internet versions should be quickly downloadable - that is, for example, with the option of avoiding large graphics. It may not be practical to include complex attachments (such as large charts or maps), though early planning will often permit the information in them to be presented satisfactorily on the web.

16. But though effective use of the Internet is increasingly important, people should not be excluded from consultation because they are not Internet users. Paper copies of documents should always be available, and paper responses accepted. Costs to users should never be such that they are an obstacle to effective consultation. Every effort should be made to avoid charging for paper copies.

17. The consultation should be publicised at various key stages.

Available consultation tools

18. Early consultation is often the key to the success of an initiative. The range of techniques available to local authorities to conduct such consultation is considerable. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) Guidance on Enhancing Public Participation suggests nineteen techniques.

19. In preparing a consultation strategy designed to ensure that the views of motorists are heard, authorities will need to decide what it is they are looking for from the process and adopt the appropriate techniques. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages and is better for some circumstances than others.

20. DETR's Guidance on Enhancing Public Participation suggests that some techniques are more suited to a particular purpose than others. It suggests:

Purpose

Information	Consultation documents, Media coverage, Exhibitions, Public Meetings, Question and Answer sessions
Learning	Complaints/Suggestion schemes, Service Satisfaction surveys, Citizens' panels, Advisory referendums, Co-option, Focus groups
Exchange	Interactive web-sites, Citizens' Juries, visioning exercises, various forums

21. In choosing methods, authorities need to be clear whether they are simply trying to give motorists a chance to have an input or to boost involvement/understanding or trying to get an accurate measure of motorists' views. One method of consultation cannot do all three. Increasingly, therefore, authorities will need to use a combination of techniques, involving both careful research (so that they really can get the views of motorists who cannot or will not spare the time to attend meetings or even want to send in questionnaires), as well as broader programmes which reach out to all motorists likely to be affected by a scheme using questionnaires in newspapers, mailings, well publicised meetings and visioning exercises.

Timing of consultations

22. Time must be set aside so that consultation can be properly designed, and reasonable intervals allowed for responses and their analysis. The timetable for implementation should be such that motorists affected by proposals have a reasonable opportunity to respond. In line with the Government's own recommended response period, the Forum recommends that there should be a minimum period of consultation of twelve weeks.

23. Inadequate time for responses can be a cause of complaint over consultation. Authorities should therefore ensure proper planning is adopted to avoid consultation periods being limited in order to meet later deadlines. Consultation should never have to be shortened below an acceptable minimum for reasons of local authority convenience, for example because an authority has fallen behind its own implementation schedule.

24. The deadline for responses, and as far as practicable the timetable envisaged after that, including any further opportunity for consultation, should be clearly set out.

Reasonable balance in consultation exercise

25. Any consultation exercise containing proposals which impact upon the motorist ought to set this fact out clearly. The consultation should include an assessment of the impact of the proposals on the motorist and every effort should be made to ensure that views are received from this group.

26. The Forum expects that in any such consultation exercise, authorities will offer a balanced view of the proposals, particularly in ensuring that any adverse effects on the motorist are not hidden. It will also be useful if the exercise can make clear any aspects of the issue on which decisions have been taken, or are inevitable, so as to avoid wasting the time of respondents. It may also be useful to indicate where the authority provisionally favours a particular course. But the agenda should not be so rigidly defined as to deter respondents from offering views on related questions of interest to them.

Open-minded analysis of the results

27. It is accepted that the results of consultation exercises are not binding on local authority councillors - they still have to make their own judgements based on informed advice and retain responsibility for the final decision. That, however, does not abrogate the need for authorities to analyse carefully and open-mindedly responses to a consultation exercise.

28. Authorities should be aware that given the nature of this sort of consultation - ie one which will affect a few people a great deal and most people very little - it is almost inevitable that the responses will contain more of those with the strongest views rather than necessarily reflecting the views of most. They should ensure that this likelihood is reflected in their consideration of responses.

29. Responses should also be looked at carefully for:

• Possible new approaches to the question consulted on
• Further evidence of the impact of the proposals
• Levels of support among particular groups

30. It is this last area - the support, or otherwise, for a proposal from motorists - that is of greatest concern to the Forum. The Government has already given clear assurances that "we expect the most serious consultation with motorists.the general public..and also members of motoring organisations". In the light of this statement, it is essential that the views of motorists should be considered fairly and without preconceived ideas being applied to the process. Decisions should be soundly based on evidence and take account of the views and experience of those affected by them.

Communicating results back

31. Decisions in the light of consultation should be made public promptly with a summary of views expressed (subject to respondents' requests for confidentiality), and clear reasons for rejecting options that were not adopted. It should be explained how this outcome will be used for future decision taking.

32. As far as reasonably practicable, this material should be accessible to all who responded, including on a local authority website (individual notification may be practicable in the case of those who have replied by e-mail). Respondents who ask why individual proposals have been rejected should receive an explanation.

Annex B:
Checklist of Guidelines

• Identify the types of motorists that will be affected by the proposals
• Consider how the views of these motorists in particular can be most effectively obtained
• Determine the objectives of the consultation
• Ensure that the consultation makes clear what it is designed to achieve
• Make sure relevant information is available to motorists in easily accessible forms
• Make it clear how responses should be submitted and where they should be sent
• Publish a consultation timetable, ensuring reasonable time is given for responses to be made
• Publicise the consultation at various key stages, particularly aiming to reach motorists
• Select one or more consultation techniques that can be used to meet the objectives of the consultation
• Obtain experienced opinion research guidance, as appropriate, for example in such matters as the content of questionnaires and the interpretation of their results
• Provide a fair and balanced summary of the proposals and their possible impact upon motorists in an easily understood form
• Ensure full and fair evaluation of the responses
• Publish the outcome of the consultation and how this outcome will be used for future decision taking
• Respect a respondent's desire for confidentiality