Engagement and Consultation

Everyone has an interest in transport and consultation is a vital element of the local transport strategy development process and its implementation. Local authorities will therefore need to actively engage throughout the LTS development process with a wide range of people, including (but not limited to) local people and communities, children and young people, businesses and business groups, private and community transport operators, health and education providers, the enterprise networks, relevant representative bodies and user groups and the emergency services.

The National Standards for Community Engagement are Scotland’s good-practice principles designed to support and inform the process of community engagement, and improve what happens as a result. They describe the main elements of effective community engagement, and set out detailed performance statements that everyone involved can use to achieve the highest quality results and the greatest impact. They are intended to act as a central benchmark and reference point for best practice, and have been widely accepted by a range of practitioners as key principles for effective practice.

The Best Practice Guidance on Community Engagement is an output from the Bus Taskforce's Sub-Group. It contains specific guidance for bus operators, local authorities and communities and recognises the active and positive role local people and communities can play in supporting and developing bus services. However much of the principles and methodologies are applicable to engagement on a LTS.

Public engagement in a genuinely inclusive approach to the development of strategies will be vital if authorities are going to achieve the widespread support necessary to implement any difficult and potentially contentious measures, especially as policies to support the national 20% car use reduction are implemented. Moreover, local people will have knowledge and insight about existing problems that may be helpful in formulating strategies.

Local transport strategies need to fit within a local authority’s community plan and it may be appropriate to use community planning mechanisms (such as citizens’ panels or forums) as a vehicle for consultation.

Local authorities may also wish to make use of the stakeholder networks and consultative processes established by their RTP.

The Case for Change report (or Main Issues Report), the draft LTS document, alongside any supporting documents such as a consultation paper and impact assessments, should be accessible and easy for the public to understand.

When developing a LTS, engagement should also be carried out with the respective RTP and neighbouring local authorities. Transport Scotland welcomes engagement from local authorities at any stage in the development of a LTS. This will be based on the needs of the local authority and is not a requirement. We particularly welcome engagement before beginning the process of creating a LTS where a local authority will be seeking to use discretionary powers to implement new policies, for example, Workplace Parking Licensing.

Robust engagement and impact assessments are critical to ensuring local political and local community support for the outcomes set out in the strategy. This is the point at which local authorities may wish to take the draft strategy and the outcomes it sets out to council, to ensure that decision makers agree with the outcomes set out, before significant progress is made on the delivery plan.