PART 3PROMOTING ACCESS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 2PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING BY PRINCIPAL COUNCILS

Principal councils' duty to encourage participation in local government

I140Strategy on encouraging participation

1

A principal council must prepare and publish a strategy (“a public participation strategy”) specifying how it proposes to comply with the duty in section 39.

2

A public participation strategy must, in particular, address—

a

ways of promoting awareness among local people of the principal council's functions;

b

ways of promoting awareness among local people of how to become a member of the principal council, and what membership entails;

c

ways of facilitating access for local people to information about decisions made, or to be made, by the principal council;

d

ways of promoting and facilitating processes by which local people may make representations to the principal council about a decision before, and after, it is made;

e

arrangements made, or to be made, for the purpose of the council's duty in section 62 of the 2011 Measure (bringing views of the public to attention of overview and scrutiny committees);

f

ways of promoting awareness among members of the principal council of the benefits of using social media to communicate with local people.

3

A public participation strategy may address how a principal council proposes to comply with a duty imposed by any enactment.