Explainer: How the Council engages with the community

The Council – typically through our Engagement Team, but not exclusively – gathers information about the views and preferences of Wellington’s diverse communities in many ways and uses this information to inform its decisions.   

The Engagement Team engages and works collaboratively with communities. Engaging early and well enables better decisions by ensuring that final decisions consider the views of the community and those affected by the decision.  

In Aotearoa, local government consultations must follow legal requirements set out primarily in the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA 2002), along with other relevant legislation such as the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA 1991) and the Privacy Act 2020 as and when required.   

What are the different types of engagement? 

Engagement is the broad and ongoing process of sharing information with the community and seeking its feedback, with the purpose of involving the community in the process of decision making. There are three main types of engagement carried out by the Council – informal or early engagement, formal consultation and the Special Consultative Procedure (SCP).  

Informal/early engagement

Informal or early engagement happens early on in a project and is often exploratory and more flexible than formal consultation – for example, we may gather ideas about how a new park may be designed. We might use tools like a short survey or a map where people can drop ideas on specific locations. We might also run a workshop in the community to gather ideas.

There may be multiple rounds of early engagement. This type of engagement ultimately feeds into the development of options, plans, policies or designs that the Council will later make decisions about. 

Informal engagement...

• may be used for early-stage engagement before formal consultation begins. 
• may include online surveys, drop-in sessions, workshops, pop-ups, or targeted engagement with affected groups.
• has no legal requirement to follow specific steps or timelines.   

Example:

• Community engagement for the redevelopment of Frank Kitts playground.  
• Early engagement on the Long-term Plan. 

Formal consultation

A formal consultation is a type of engagement that informs a specific decision that is to be made by the Council. It is a more structured process and usually focuses on testing specific options with the community – for example, by creating a consultation document and asking people to provide feedback on a number of options. There are certain principles that must be followed for consultation. 

The Council will consult the community on significant decisions and can also decide to consult at any time on a decision, where it considers that appropriate. For most Council decisions, there is no express requirement to consult the public, but we will consider people’s views and preferences, which will often be gathered through informal engagement.

Special Consultative Procedure (SCP)

The SCP is a legally required process under the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA 2002), which has specific requirements.  

Examples of when the Council carries out a SCP include when adopting or amending a Long-term Plan or adopting, amending, or revoking a bylaw. 

Key Features of a SCP:   

• Formal public notification (advertised online, in newspapers, etc).  
• A Statement of Proposal with a summary of the issue, options, and the Council’s preferred approach.  
• A minimum one-month public submission period.  
• Submissions must be considered by Councillors before a decision is made.
• Public hearings may be held for submitters to speak.  

The Council is currently looking for feedback on Wellington’s Long-term Plan amendment and Annual Plan. You can have your say on Let’s Talk.