Speed Limits By-Law Consultations Peer Review, 2018
Auckland Transport
What was this project about?
Auckland Transport (AT) is responsible for all the region’s transport services (excluding state highways), from roads and footpaths, to cycling, parking and public transport. In 2018 Auckland Transport began an intensive campaign that focused on keeping people safe on their roads. The campaign focused on educating the community about the increasing issue of road deaths and road trauma that was being experienced on their road network. The campaign also focused on building support and alliances with key partners and stakeholders to achieve their aim.
Auckland Transport sought a Peer Review of their engagement processes in readiness for the public release of the Speed Limit Bylaw Engagement Report. The Peer Review needed to consider if the engagement planning and implementation had followed the IAP2 practice framework and to identify any insights or recommendations for future practice.
Engagement Plus was commissioned to undertake the Peer Review based upon their experience in providing licensed training of the IAP2 Certificate in engagement and contributing to course development in the contemporary framework for engagement practice.
What we needed to do
Engagement Plus undertook the peer review of the Speed Limits By-Law Consultations through a three stage process.
Stage 1 of the review involved a briefing and gathering of relevant information about the planning and implementation of the community engagement plan.
The information used for the review included a combination of desktop research and face to face interviews with key staff involved with the planning and implementation of the engagement plan.
Reviewed documentation included safe speeds programme communications strategy, bylaw, consultation plan and overview, stakeholder list, communications (brochure, frequently asked questions, policy and how-to guide, advertisement, feedback form, GIS interactive map, webpage) and emails outlining the engagement processes and related results from media campaigns.
Engagement Plus also conducted interviews at Auckland Transport with seven key communications, consultation and engagement and media staff.
Stage 2 was an audit and assessment of the materials against the IAP2 Quality Assurance Standard. The audit process included the establishment of a spreadsheet that listed each of the IAP2 Quality Assurance Standard elements and additional elements from Auckland Transport’s own Community Engagement Practice Framework, where they were different.
In Stage 3 Engagement Plus developed a report on the findings and recommendations.
What was achieved
The peer review found that the engagement program had the endorsement of most political leaders, had a high profile with the media and the public and generated a significant number of contributions, far exceeding by double, most other engagement programs that are undertaken.
While the engagement overall was well informed, well prepared and well implemented, the timing and resourcing of the significant engagement program was limited. Additional timing and human resources could have achieved greater reach in regional areas.
The review highlighted some areas that could be addressed to enhance future engagement programs and so a number of recommendations are offered for consideration including establishing a template for standard elements for inclusion in a Consultation and Engagement Plan that aligns with IAP2 practice standards and being more explicit about the level of participation for key stakeholders and the public to ensure their roles and contributions to the engagement are more transparent.
