Appendix 1: List of case studies
This document includes the following case studies.
| Approach to consultation | Council | Case study |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure in general | Auckland Council | Investment in core services and infrastructure was its number one consultation issue. It used clear communication through design. |
| Hutt City Council | Presented clear options for funding investment in the three waters. Investing in infrastructure was its first consultation issue. | |
| Whakatāne District Council | Consulted on all its core infrastructure with the first two of its “five big things we need to talk about”. | |
| Specific infrastructure types | Greater Wellington Regional Council | Consulted on “ramping up our restoration of regional parks to fight climate change”. Beautiful graphics presenting the cost and impact of the preferred option helped engage readers. |
| Kawerau District Council | Consulted on “drinking water pipe replacement”. Put decisions in context. | |
| New Plymouth District Council | Was open and transparent about the big issues. “Fixing our plumbing” put the issue in terms that the reader could readily associate with. | |
| Southland District Council | Consulted on key issues: “our roads”, “our bridges”, and “the impact on rates”. Made the right linkages. | |
| Specific projects | Selwyn District Council | Explained choices well. Asked for feedback on some specific projects. |
Inclusion of councils in this document does not imply that every aspect of their planning is perfect and that they do not face similar challenges to their peers. This report is a compilation of some examples that struck a chord with us or exemplified a good practice point that we thought others could reflect on and perhaps learn from.
Similarly, the absence of any council from this document does not imply that we had concerns with its practice. Ultimately, there were only so many examples we could include, and we applied editorial licence.
The examples in this guidance illustrate specific aspects of local government consultation material. The scope of our research did not include website content. However, given that consultation documents can be read online, we recommend that preparers consult the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines on how to ensure information on their websites meets accessibility requirements.