Council Chamber In every process, regardless of the scope, the following principles should guide all public engagement activities. The Public Engagement Guide (pdf, 546 kB) sets out the town’s commitment to public engagement, including the guiding principles. The guiding principles are the foundation upon which the public engagement framework is built and are fundamental to all engagement activities.

Public Notice and Engagement Guiding Principles

1. Valuing inclusiveness — ensuring public notice and engagement is based on building trust and relationships that seek to involve all members of the community.
2. Promoting open two-way communication — working with the community in a co-operative and collaborative way to share information and provide opportunities for open and constructive dialogue.
3. Providing timely communication — ensuring information is available in a timely manner.
4. Providing clear and accessible communication — ensuring the use of plain language in a wide variety of formats and channels of communication.
5. Being fiscally sustainable — ensuring methods and resources for public notice and engagement reflect the magnitude and complexity of the initiative.
6. Being transparent and accountable — sharing information and having open public engagement processes, final decisions and outcomes.
7. Being environmentally sustainable — ensuring environmentally friendly public notice and engagement methods.
8. Striving for continuous improvement — seeking better ways of engaging the community and providing efficient and effective public notice and engagement processes.

Following the guiding principles is the most effective way to build trust and to demonstrate the town’s commitment to the community. The guiding principles must be consistently demonstrated by staff and Town Council involved in engagement activities. Equally, staff, Town Council and the public are asked to follow the town’s Rzone procedure when involved in engagement activities (and always). Rzone stands for respect for yourself and others and responsibility for your actions.