Increasing Planning Success with Virtual Public Consultations
Engaging effectively with key stakeholders and the local community is crucial in the initial stages of any project, regardless of its size. Obtaining a comprehensive understanding of both community and stakeholder feedback is pivotal for effective planning progress. Yet, many planning consultations limit their engagement window to a single date and venue. This not only poses challenges in reaching the broader community and stakeholders but also affects the quality and outcome of projects.
Confining engagement to a narrow timeframe not only restricts the number of participants reached but also frequently distorts the authentic voice and aspirations of the local community concerning the area.
Navigating the planning process is both time-consuming and financially demanding.
Given the substantial number of planning applications facing rejection each year, it becomes imperative to establish a robust foundation for your projects to ensure their success.
Taking Your Public Consultations Online
In an age defined by digital progress, even public consultations have undergone a significant transformation.
Many local authorities, planning consultants, and developers have embraced the shift, transitioning their public consultations to online platforms.
Virtual Public Consultations have reshaped the way communities and stakeholders interact, discuss and decide on crucial projects.
Eliminating accessibility barriers and enhancing transparency grant communities and stakeholders unrestricted access to crucial planning materials. This empowers them with comprehensive information at their fingertips, enabling well-informed feedback and fostering a more insightful engagement process.
Let’s take a look at what a Virtual Public Consultation is and how it works.
How Does A Virtual Public Consultation Work?
Transitioning your public consultation to an online platform may seem daunting, but rest assured, it’s more straightforward than it appears.
Plus, you can explore a demo consultation for free, with zero obligations.
Conducted online, Virtual Consultations offers an interactive and user-friendly platform for hosting planning consultations. Accessible from anywhere, community members and stakeholders can engage with content and your team directly in a 360 environment. This online approach eliminates accessibility challenges, fostering increased community and stakeholder engagement. While not replacing a physical event, Virtual Public Consultations enable comprehensive feedback, surpassing the limitations of a single public consultation event.
Key Features
Features you can expect to see from our Virtual Public Consultation Platform:
- Customisable 360 navigational environment
- Accessible on any device, anytime, anywhere
- Real-time analytic data for dwell times, most visited, and opinions
- Live chat and integrated user forms
- Multiple user seats for your team
- 1 – 22 week consultation duration (dependent on subscription)
- Multiple environments choices
- Uploadable planning materials
- Full control over your consultation via the platform
5 Benefits of An Online Consultation?
1 – Analyse & Report in Realtime
Virtual Public Consultations collect live data from all users interacting with your consultation in real time. This provides accurate, extractable data from a convenient centralised place and lets you obtain detailed insights into how long users spend on your consultation, planning materials interacted with and community opinions.
2 – Enhanced Project Quality
Moving your consultation online not only opens the door to increased engagement but it also allows you to collect and analyse larger quantities of data more efficiently. Unlike in-person public consultations, where data collection is confined to the event date, online consultations offer continuous access, ensuring more precise and detailed insights. This enhanced data accuracy equips you to advance your project with greater precision and confidence.
3 – Improves Planning Outcomes
Enhancing the accessibility of public consultations allows you to reach a wider audience and understand the authentic voice and aspirations of the local community. Capturing the ‘full picture’ greatly contributes to the success of your projects in the long run.
4 – Trusy & Transparency
Online consultation platforms empower you to offer stakeholders and the local community a thorough overview of the project, spanning from its inception to completion. This heightened level of detail and easy accessibility to information significantly enhances community understanding, fostering a more informed and engaged public discourse about the project in question.
5 – Identify Conflicts Early
By extending the consultation window and ensuring full accessibility, you create a significant opportunity to actively engage with your audience and collect valuable feedback. This prolonged timeframe not only fosters enhanced audience participation but also allows you to promptly identify and resolve conflicts, preventing potential planning delays and ensuring a smoother project progression.
