Falkirk Council warned consultations are seen as a 'box ticking' exercise

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Communities in Falkirk feel 'disengaged' from a 'remote' council that sees engagement as a 'box ticking exercise', officials have been warned.

A review of the council's community engagement strategy presented to members of Falkirk Council 's executive on Tuesday admitted that much of the work being done was not easy to measure - but where there were targets, these were far behind where they should be.

And a senior officer told councillors this week the council needs to be "honest, open and transparent and share decisions with our communities". Read more: Falkirk Council staff will get extra holiday for King's coronation despite £260,000 costHead of housing Kenny Gillespie told members of Falkirk Council's executive: "What we have heard in the past is that communities would get involved, however, they think it is pointless.

We've heard that and we need to change that."The review started during the pandemic, where the council successfully helped local groups to reach those who were most in need of support.At the time, members agreed that the council should look to build on that by working with communities in a more collaborative way.Mr Gillespie said: "Communities expect a different relationship with us - one that is more supportive of their leadership and enables them to do more for themselves, with the correct support."Councillor Robert Spears said that social media showed what people think of the council.He said: "They see us as remote, they see our consultations as box-ticking exercises, they don't feel they are being listened to and they have disengaged."He said the council should adopt more social media such as Facebook pages for each town in the district "where people can vent their frustration".The Labour group