How councils consult with their communities has changed a lot over the years.

At Ashburton District Council today, staff are planning meetings with the community for the upcoming Annual Plan, and they will be a mixture of in-person gatherings (appropriately physically distanced) and online gatherings (where anyone with access to a digital device can join in).

Back in the day, interested residents and ratepayers were encouraged to attend a public meeting at the local hall to hear details of what Council planned to do in the coming year, which could range from putting in new drinking water pipes to building a new library.

In today’s world, people have so much more access to information via the internet, that they can instantly find out about Council news and work programmes without stepping outside.

If the covid-19 pandemic has done one good thing, it is that it has dragged nearly all of us into the digital era of online meetings or family chats. That experience over the past two years means the Council has had to ensure that our community can connect with us online just as well as they can in person.

Virtual meetings won’t ever completely replace in-person events of course, but it adds another way in which residents can learn about and have input into the Council’s plans for the 2022-23 financial year.

When it comes to giving feedback, we will also retain a range of options for people to tell us what they think, from paper forms to online submissions, or face-to-face at our community meetings.

So as we approach consultation for the Annual Plan, we encourage people to take part in the format most comfortable for them and think about questions they might like to ask.

The draft annual plan is expected to go before Council on 6 April, and be out for consultation from the very next day until 6 May. During that time we’ll have all the information available on our website, interactive virtual meetings and a public drop-in session.

We’ll be asking for the community’s thoughts on our priorities as we navigate a tricky year with inflationary pressures, supply chain troubles and increased Government regulations around water and the environment.

After the consultation period, Council will carefully consider all of the feedback, make any necessary revisions and look to finalise the plan in June.