Cabinet Members have agreed a new Involvement Strategy and Action Plan aimed at increasing public involvement in Council activities – with particular focus on engaging residents in key decision-making processes.
At their meeting on Wednesday, June 11, Cabinet considered a report that presented the 2025 Involvement Strategy and Action Plan, which has been developed following a large-scale consultation. While the Council currently has a robust and transparent process to engage with residents, the strategy intends to further improve consultation, and puts forward seven objectives to outline how the Council will strengthen its engagement activity.
The Council previously used an Involvement and Engagement Framework as a guide for services, however, a ‘digital by default’ approach to consultation was adopted out of necessity in the pandemic. The new strategy promotes more face-to-face engagement in communities, alongside the digital approach used and refined in recent years. It also puts greater emphasis on providing evidence back to residents around the rationale for decisions undertaken.
It also links in with the Council’s Corporate Plan (2024-2030), that commits to putting residents at the centre of all that the Council does and the decisions that it makes – along with the Council’s Strategic Equality Plan (2024-2028), that commits to listening and understanding the experiences of all residents.
A widescale consultation took place from June 3 to September 27, 2024, to gain feedback on an initial draft of the strategy, and to inform its final version. Quick polls, an ideas board and a map tool were used on the RCT Let’s Talk website, along with public roadshow and staff events, feedback sessions for Council Members, and engagement with stakeholder groups. The consultation report is available in full as an Appendix to Wednesday’s Cabinet report.
Approved by Cabinet on Wednesday, the new strategy’s vision is as follows:
“A Rhondda Cynon Taf where everyone in the community is able to have their say in the planning and delivery of Council services. Where people know how to have their say, have a range of ways to have their say and know that their views are considered when decisions are being made.”
Further details about the seven Involvement objectives are included in the Cabinet report, linked to above. Broadly, these objectives are to:
- Strengthen and develop clear opportunities for residents to have their say and have an influence on decisions made by the Council.
- Make it easy for everyone to take part.
- Encourage a wide range of people and groups to get involved.
- Coordinate community engagement activities to ensure consistency, quality and partner participation to avoid duplication.
- Feed back, by letting people know about the impact of their contribution.
- Provide staff with the skills they need to ensure effective involvement.
- Evaluate and improve, by checking the effectiveness of the activity.
The 2025 Involvement Strategy and Action Plan is available to view in full as an Appendix to Wednesday’s Cabinet report. Following Cabinet’s agreement on Wednesday, it will now be adopted over the next five years (2025-2030).
Councillor Bob Harris, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Communities, said: “The Council has an excellent track record of engaging with our residents and communities, and the current range of consultation methods that we use enables the public to tell us what they think about key issues – particularly in relation to our planning and changing of services. However, there is always room for improvement, and the newly-agreed Involvement Strategy and Action Plan aims to further increase public involvement in our decision-making processes.
“Conforming with the Corporate Plan and Public Participation Strategy, key documents that were recently implemented, the new strategy puts forward several core values – that everyone is able to have their say, that people know how to do this through a range of available methods, and that residents know their views are being considered. By listening to people and giving them the tools they need, our activity will be as effective and efficient as possible.
“A key part of the strategy is to promote stronger face-to-face engagement, while maintaining online methods that we have relied upon and used well in recent years. Strengthening our engagement with community groups is a good example of us placing more focus on in-person consultation. We often have very different conversations in face-to-face settings than online, and I’m pleased that Cabinet has supported this key element of our new approach.”
Posted on 12/06/2025