The Project

ECF has been engaged by Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) to run a public consultation on the future of Clair Hall site in Haywards Heath, following a court order issued in January 2021.

The public consultation was intended to gather feedback from the community and key stakeholders on what they would like the future of the site to look like. The feedback gathered has since been collected and analysed to produce a Consultation Report, which has been presented to MSDC and will inform their decision on the site.

Following a court order, it was vital for the public consultation to be open and independent. On this basis, a bespoke engagement programme was created to ensure transparency with the local community. Two key pieces of feedback collected was how the site has been used by the community in the past (“stories”) and what the community would like the future of the site to look like (“ideas”).

Our role

The public consultation involved the following elements:

• An online Engagement HQ site set up as a platform for the community to submit feedback.
• 2 rounds of leaflets distributed to residential and business addresses.
• 2x community workshops.
• Creation of a Community Engagement Group, made up of key stakeholder groups.
• 3x meetings of the Community Engagement Group.
• Meetings with stakeholder groups, representing individual group interests.
• 2x in-person drop in sessions.
• Youth engagement programme and stakeholder meetings.

Outcomes

Over 1,200 individual pieces of feedback has been collected via various means, culminating in the production of a Consultation Report which has been presented to Mid Sussex District Council. The findings from the report will be presented in front of the Cabinet and used to inform any future engagement on the site and subsequent decisions made.