Customer story: Clackmannanshire Council

Community engagement online

Clackmannanshire Council in Scotland, UK is the local authority for one of Britain's smallest counties – with a population of around 50,000 people.

Since 2013, they've been running their public consultation and community engagement activities online with Citizen Space. And, over time, they've incorporated more and more ways to hear from people digitally – including regular feedback surveys.

Checking in with feedback surveys

Citizen Space is a next-generation engagement platform, modernising all manner of democratic processes – from resident surveys to spatial planning.

One of the ways that Clackmannanshire Council use Citizen Space is to 'check-in' with residents, regularly gauging their contentment with council services via quick and simple feedback surveys.

These feedback surveys cover a huge range of council activities: the phased return of library services as pandemic restrictions eased, the social housing application process, local leisure and sports services, support for informal carers…

Clackmannanshire Council run some of these feedback surveys very early in new processes; at other times, they use them as part of a final review or post-pilot assessment. This allows the council to get fast and frequent input on their work – to rapidly get a sense of 'are we heading the right way?' and adjust course accordingly if needed.

Building public trust

By running the feedback surveys within Citizen Space, the council make it as easy to respond as possible, lowering barriers to public participation. It means all current engagement activities are in one place, where people can search for topics that matter to them. And the clean design of the site makes it a simple and attractive way for people to have their say.

The upshot is that Clackmannanshire are building a habit and an expectation of user feedback – where both council staff and residents are accustomed to a process of public input. As well as providing the council with invaluable quantitative and qualitative data on their service users' satisfaction levels, it also, crucially, builds trust – a virtuous cycle where people know they are being listened to, and are therefore happier and more likely to participate.