Memorandum by Transport for London (TfL)
(LGC 30)
SUMMARY
TfL is committed to listening to London. We
have developed a Consultation Toolkit, which has been shortlisted
for an annual London Transport Award as "most innovative
project", and is based on an extensive study of best practice.
Regular monitoring indicates this is being widely used across
the organisation. Market research results demonstrate the effectiveness
of our consultations, while the Thames Gateway Bridge consultation
was a finalist in the Institute for Public Relations excellence
awards in the Public Affairs category.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Transport for London (TfL) was established
in 2000 under the Greater London Authority Act, with the responsibility
for planning and providing transport for the capital. TfL plans
and conducts hundreds of public consultations every year. Some
of these relate to relatively minor and uncontroversial changes
to existing bus services; others concern substantial new projects,
such as new trams or bridges, affecting hundreds of thousands
of people. The public are directly involved in most of our consultations.
However, there are some more technical/policy issues on which
the variety of public interests are most effectively expressed
and considered by representative stakeholder groups, eg consultation
on London boroughs' Local Implementation Plans.
1.2 TfL is committed to listening to London.
We have established a central Consultation Unit, which plans and
delivers major consultations and advises on more minor ones. We
have developed a consultation policy, which includes specific
and challenging commitments with which we are legally bound to
comply. This is backed up by a Consultation Toolkit, which provides
consultation managers throughout the organisation with detailed
advice on how to plan and deliver effective consultations. A copy
of the consultation policy is attached as Annex A.
2. EFFECTIVENESS
AND IMPACT
ON DECISION-MAKING
2.1 One way in which consultees judge the
effectiveness of consultation is according to whether changes
were made to projects and policies as a result. Where viable and
practical, changes are, and must be seen to be, made. TfL can
provide numerous instances where changes have been made. For example:
— TfL consulted the London boroughs
and key pan-London stakeholder groups on the guidance for Local
Implementation Plans[13].
Following comments from the boroughs and the Association of London
Government, substantial changes were made to the guidance to make
the requirements on boroughs clearer and less onerous, taking
into account the time constraints involved. The most important
changes were communicated back clearly to the boroughs and other
stakeholders by letter.
— Between February and May 2004, TfL
carried out an initial consultation on Greenwich Waterfront Transit
phase 1. While supporting the concept in principle, local residents
and businesses identified significant issues with the sections
of the proposed route through Royal Arsenal and Gallions Hill
and suggested 16 other routes that they felt should be considered.
TfL has now come back with a wider range of options. Consultation
on these revised options was completed on 21 January 2005.
2.2 However, effectiveness should not be
seen solely in terms of changes made. Where changes are not made,
we are committed to explaining why this has not been possible.
2.3 TfL sets specific objectives for each
of its major consultations, and evaluates performance against
this, often using independent market research to inform our analysis.
For example:
— The West London Tram consultation
concluded on 8 October 2004. Market research feedback showed very
high levels of awareness of the project and the consultation,
and high levels of satisfaction with the consultation brochure,
questionnaire, website and roadshows. A majority of the public
felt the brochure contained the right amount of information and
was easy to understand, and that the accompanying questionnaire
was easy to fill in. Levels of satisfaction with the website,
and with the layout and information available at the roadshows
were also well over 50%. Even on this contentious scheme, those
feeling the brochure was biased were outnumbered 2:1 by those
who felt it was fair.
— There have been similarly positive
results for TfL consultations on other major projects, such as
the Thames Gateway Bridge.
2.4 TfL recently established a Stakeholder
Panel, made up of boroughs, business organisations and user groups
representatives, to provide regular feedback on how we can improve
our consultations. We have engaged an independent market research
company to manage the Panel, and we are currently analysing the
first round of responses from Panel members.
3. HOW PUBLIC
CONSULTATION FITS
INTO DECISION-MAKING
PROCESSES
3.1 Before they consult, decision-makers
need to think through what they are trying to find out from their
consultation exercise. The public is far more likely to be able
to influence projects where the questions are carefully thought
through. The public will also have more opportunity to influence
schemes if project directors have ensured that they are consulted
at a stage when there is time in the programme to give detailed
consideration to points made, make changes and, where necessary,
to commission further work from consultants. The Consultation
Toolkit covers these points.
3.2 The range of decisions taken that affect
a project are taken at different levels within the organisation.
TfL tries to ensure that all of the key people associated with
a project have an opportunity to get out of their offices and
into local communities to get as full and early an understanding
of public concerns and issues as possible.
— On the West London Tram, project
managers and consultants met regularly with local residents and
businesses over an 18 month period during the scheme development.
They discussed the project in great detail at public roadshows
attended by 8,900 people in summer 2004. The project team has
been sent an early summary of issues raised in stakeholder letters
and comments made at roadshows. A detailed report on the 17,000
consultation responses and market research results will be sent
to them shortly. The project team will then study these responses
in detail and use them to influence the development of the detailed
design of the scheme.
4. PART OF
A CONTINUING
PROCESS
4.1 Integration of consultation into project
planning is fundamental to TfL's approach. Communications and
consultation is one of the key workstreams of any project. At
the start of a project, a communications and consultation plan
is drawn up, identifying the different phases of the project and
the communications and consultation requirements for each phase.
This plan is kept under constant review in the light of new developments
and changing requirements.
4.2 Some managers feel that consultation
start at the point when views are sought and ends when this period
concludes. However, it is more helpful to view consultation as
an ongoing process, not a single event. Once we have received
all of the responses to the consultation, these are analysed and
we prepare a report back to respondents on the results of the
consultation. We then decide how to proceed and write back with
a further report, explaining our decisions. At each stage, we
use our communications and consultation plan to let people know
what happens next.
— TfL consulted on the Thames Gateway
Bridge in summer 2003. Following the consultation, we reported
to the public and stakeholders on the consultation responses,
producing a newsletter, executive summary, full report and appendices.
At each stage, we kept people informed about what would happen
next.
5. APPLICATION
OF BEST
PRACTICE
5.1 The Thames Gateway Bridge consultation
was a finalist in the Institute for Public Relations excellence
awards in the Public Affairs category.
5.2 TfL's Consultation Toolkit has been
nominated for an annual London Transport Award as "most innovative
project". The Toolkit has been widely praised, and we have
received orders and enquiries from across the UK and abroad. It
contains comprehensive guidance on how to plan and run a consultation,
and over 40 detailed best practice case studies from TfL and other
organisations. The guidance was informed by extensive research,
with the authors visiting each of the London boroughs, holding
face-to-face discussions with several of the Passenger Transport
Executives and consulting widely within TfL, the wider GLA family
and amongst academics and interest groups.
5.3 The Toolkit has been sent to over 300
managers within TfL who are involved in consultation. A large
number of training sessions and one-to-one meetings have been
held to explain the Toolkit and how to use it. The Consultation
Unit provides regular advice on specific consultations. We are
now in the process of introducing a quality control system which
will apply to consultations across the whole organisation, guaranteeing
compliance with TfL's consultation policy and adherence to best
practice standards. We are starting to develop more specialist
templates to apply the Toolkit to specific types of project.
5.4 We have conducted market research to
help us to understand and review the impact of particular consultation
tools, such as consultation leaflets and exhibitions, and how
these might be improved. We would be happy to share the detailed
results of this research on request.
5.5 We are continually reviewing the techniques
we deploy to explain our proposals and options and provide the
public with opportunities to respond. For example:
— We developed a CD Rom during the
initial Greenwich Waterfront Transit phase 1 consultation. The
flexibility of this medium gave recipients with facilities for
playing CD Roms access to a wide range of maps and translated
materials, enabling them to understand and manipulate the data
more easily. We mailed the CD Rom to individuals living along
the line of route. We are in the process of evaluating the effectiveness
of this approach and how we might apply what we have learnt to
other consultations.
— We engaged in detailed discussion
with small groups of residents, businesses and users on the optimum
location for stops on the West London Tram. We held five meetings,
working together on tables with large scale maps and different
coloured post-it notes, each supported by a technical expert.
Feedback from participants was very positive.
6. REACHING AN
AUDIENCE BEYOND
THOSE WHO
USUALLY PARTICIPATE
6.1 TfL is committed to making sure that
we provide an effective opportunity for all sections of the community
to have their say on our proposals. Inclusion is not just about
overcoming physical and language barriers; it is also about building
confidence, trust and understanding. Typically, we talk to boroughs
about the demographics in their area, and work with race equality
councils, faith groups, women's groups, disability groups and
others. We are now developing an Equality & Inclusion checklist
and auditing tool to ensure that we always include all relevant
groups from the start and that we are judged by how effectively
we have involved them.
— The West London Tram provides a good
example of some of the challenges faced in reaching a wider audience,
and how TfL has sought to address those. Our overall approach
included:
— widespread publicity with adverts
in local papers, posters along the side of the road, on bus shelters,
tube stations, bus rears etc;
— distribution of the consultation
leaflet door-to-door, at stations, bus stops and handed through
car windows;
— roadshows on high streets and
in supermarket car parks; and
— a video at roadshows and on our
website.
— One particular example of our inclusive
approach was the work we undertook in Southall, an area of high
deprivation where many people's first language is not English.
We took the consultation right into the heart of the community.
We had posters translated into local community languages and a
young multi-lingual member of the project team who lives and shops
in the area, spent weeks in Southall, explaining the proposal
one-on-one and encouraging participation. The consultation leaflet
and video were also translated into community languages. Local
people helped us to choose the best site for our roadshow and
the best time to have it. We staffed it up with people from the
Indian and Somali communities, who handed out copies of the translated
leaflet and questionnaire. As a result, we interacted with more
people at the Southall roadshows than at any other part of the
route: on one day we spoke to more than 800 people.
— Our approach was complemented by
market research, with a sample designed to replicate the population
as a whole, to provide comparison with the consultation respondents
who are always, by definition, self-selecting.
7. CONCLUSIONS
7.1 The TfL Consultation Unit has now been
up and running for 18 months. Starting with the Thames Gateway
Bridge, we have delivered a number of effective consultations.
We are constantly evaluating what we do, and have ambitions plans
for the future. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our experience
and our performance with the Committee.
13 A Local Implementation Plan (LIP) is a statutory
document that sets out how a borough proposes to implement the
Mayor's Transport Strategy in its area. The guidance is aimed
at assisting boroughs to prepare LIPs to help ensure well integrated
delivery of the Transport Strategy at local level. Back
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