Minutes:
The Committee considered the undernoted report:
“1 Relevant Background Information
1.1 Following the election of the shadow council, the importance of communicating with the incoming and existing ratepayers and businesses of Belfast has been raised politically at various existing and shadow council committee meetings.
1.2 There is some evidence that ratepayers in new areas are still unsure of which council area they will be part of and members have highlighted the need to communicate effectively with incoming citizens and businesses
1.3 Our priority will be to ensure that any change in service provision is as seamless as possible.
1.4 While it is vital to communicate the vision and objectives of local government reform on one level, the main focus needs to be on making the information relevant to audiences, in relation to how the recipient will be affected, and ensuring effective engagement with stakeholders.
1.5 In this sense, communications requirements around reform cut across all aspects of the process – incorporating the extended boundary, the increase in members and staff, the transfer of functions to the council and any forthcoming changes to governance – but it also infers responsibility on all levels of the organisation to consider communication at each stage of their preparations.
1.6 There has been some interaction to date with the new areas but as Belfast is not yet responsible for them we have worked in conjunction with the DOE and Lisburn and Castlereagh councils. The former issued a leaflet to every home in Northern Ireland outlining the geographical areas of the 11 new councils and new powers and responsibilities that would come to local government. We worked with DOE to distribute the leaflet and accompanying poster to all BCC public facing facilitates and to place the accompanying video on the intranet and external website, and on the Big Screen. Lisburn and Castlereagh councils also issued a publication to all homes in their current council areas and they provided Belfast City Council with some space to provide some general information to householders who would be moving.
1.7 With local government reform less than a year away – approaching 200 days - plans are being developed to communicate with the new areas while also keeping existing ratepayers informed. There have been a number articles in City Matters (which is currently only distributed in the current council area) and on our website which is open to all. We also produced an animated video in relation to LGR which is available through our website and has also been publicised on social media played on the big screen outside City Hall, as well as internally to staff. A LGR factsheet was also produced for Members to use in the run up to the recent elections.
1.8 All our activity needs to support the Regional Communications Plan which has been developed by a communications group across all councils in which Belfast City Council has played a leading role, particularly in relation to advice on branding, website and, social media. We have also learned lessons from the UK review of local government during which it was established that the time to start communicating with the public is around the ‘100 days to go’ mark as any information that goes out before that tends to be forgotten. That’s not to say there should be no communications before that, just that crucial and specific information needs to be targeted and distributed in a timely way.
1.9 There are a number of decisions that are required in relation to developing communications activity and these are outlined below.
2 Key Issues
2.1 Corporate identity:
The other 10 new councils will have new branding as they are two or three councils merging and becoming one new authority; and there may be a view that the new Belfast council will also require a new corporate identity. To change the name and corporate identity of Belfast council would however be extremely costly. While the design could be undertaken in-house there would be considerable expenditure required for the implementation of branding on vehicle livery, signage, stationery etc.
2.1.2 While this matter will have to be examined in more detail with our legal advisors and the DOE, elected members are asked to indicate whether or not they would support the retention of the name Belfast City Council and the current corporate identity, in which case plans for signage for new assets can go ahead on the basis of the existing colours and logo (resulting in no additional cost for the change to liveries, stationery and uniforms etc). Should however members decide they would wish to consider a change of name and or identity this would have to be costed in relation to design and a roll out plan.
2.3 Signage:
With around 300 assets transferring from central government and other local government authorities, an audit of what is required in terms of signage to identify these as BCC locations from 1 April 2015 is required. Clearly, this is also dependent on the decision on corporate identity. This will require a dedicated resource for a limited period for this piece of work.
2.4 Publications:
A number of special publications, City Matters supplements and an A-Z of council services need to be compiled and distributed to new and existing residents and businesses. We will also need to seek permission from the current Lisburn, Castlereagh and North Down councils to distribute material in what will still be their area. It is proposed that the following would be the most effective.
|
|
Who |
What |
When |
Distribution |
|
1. |
New |
4-8pp leaflet |
Oct/Nov 14 |
23k |
|
2. |
New and current |
City Matters |
Jan 15 |
153k |
|
3. |
New and current |
City Matters |
April 15 |
153k |
|
4. |
New and current |
A-Z |
Post April 15 |
153k |
2.5 Website
The transferring functions, as well as the additional 300+ assets that the council will take on as a result of LGR, will necessitate significant work to reconfigure the council website. This work is dependent on agreed information provided by those leading on individual workstreams (service convergence, planning, parking etc) and also development work, led by Digital Services around integrating third party applications such as the planning portal and any online forms. There is also an opportunity to utilise electronic marketing by issuing regular ezines to provide information on local engagement activity and to signpost new information held on the website.
2.5.1 There will also be a legal requirement to produce various planning statements and documents on our website and this will have to be considered in conjunction with the role of the existing Planning portal through which planning applications will continue to be submitted and monitored.
2.6 Communications and engagement
The biggest challenge of Local Government Reform is gathering the relevant information that needs to be distributed as many decisions still need to be taken across a range of issues. There also needs to be a clear distinction made between information that needs to be communicated to the public through established communications channels and what is engagement activity, ie direct contact with people affected by changes in grant applications etc.
2.6.1 The council will also need to undertake direct engagement and outreach with existing and new ratepayers through a corporate approach to activity such as local information days in shopping centres, libraries, community centres and develop mechanisms through which the public can respond to queries in a timely way through dedicated telephone lines, email and social media etc and door knocking activity as per waste and recycling messages.
2.7 Members
Members can play a crucial role in getting out information to the public, particularly those who are representatives of incoming areas. Many politicians are now on social media and this is an extremely effective way of getting out information quickly and at no cost.
2.7.1 It is vital that members are provided with information and briefing material once legislation is finalised and political agreements reached to respond to issues and queries that are being raised by constituents, with bins, waste, rates and local services being the main areas of concern.
2.7.2 Members of the shadow council have already received copies of the current issues bulletin as well as the LGR factsheet and these will be updated and new information provided on a regular basis to elected members. Councillors are asked to feed back issues and queries that are being raised by constituents not included in the bulletin so that the necessary briefing materials can be developed.
2.7.3 Elected members will be kept informed on key LGR related matters through the LGR members’ e-shot issued on a monthly basis.
2.7.4 Video is becoming an increasingly valuable communications tool and with an in-house resource now available we are considering how this can be utilised, for example elected representatives of news areas could be used in interviews to push out key messages in short films that would be posted on our website.
3 Resource Implications
3.1 Financial
These will depend on decisions taken in relation to corporate identity, signage and publications options and timings and will be from the existing LGR budget.
3.2 Human Resources
Increased resources may be required to deliver communications throughout both the transition and transformation stages of LGR.
3.3 Asset and Other Implications
None
4 Equality and Good Relations Considerations
4.1 We will ensure that all external publications follow the City Matters’ approach regarding availability in alternative formats and in line with our Equality Scheme. This work should be viewed within the wider context of the Equality Screening for the Implementation of Local Government Reform in Council – Boundary Extension
5 Call In
5.1 This decision is subject to Call In.
6 Recommendations
6.1 Agree to the proposed approach to retain the current corporate identity colours and logo and to seek to revert to the name of Belfast City Council.
6.2 Note the proposed distribution of publications in new council areas and the associated sequencing and timescales for this process.”
The Committee adopted the recommendations.