Consultation Charter1. We will normally decide to consult residents and other stakeholders whenever adecision will directly affect them and when they might have a reasonable expectationthat they should be involved.2. Consultation plans for all major consultations will be subject to consideration by aConsultation Advisory Panel to be chaired by the Lead Member for Citizen Engagement.3. All our consultations will be published on the Council’s website so that residents andstakeholders can easily see what is up for decision and how to participate.4. We will provide a named contact for each consultation and include their details on theconsultation documents so that residents and stakeholders know who they can speak to.5. Consultation plans will be produced for all major consultations. They will include whatwe are consulting about, and why, who we are consulting, how we will consult them, thetimetable for the consultation and who will make the final decision.6. Whenever practical, the Council will involve key stakeholders or representatives of themin shaping what we will consult on or how we will consult.7. Where the Council has a preferred option, we will clearly state this in the consultationdocuments and explain how and why that preference was chosen. Where specificoptions have been rejected, we will explain why we do not consider them practical.8. We will allow enough time for consultees to consider and respond to the consultationand the information we have provided.9. Where groups of people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 20101 may beparticularly affected, the consultation plan will identify who they are and how they willbe involved, and an Equality Analysis will be included in the final report.10. Consultations will conform to all statutory requirements and, where relevant, to thoseset out in our Consultation Framework, Statement of Community Involvement and theHounslow Compact.11. Minor consultations will meet all statutory requirements and the ‘Seven Standards ofInforming, Engaging and Consulting’ set out in our Consultation Framework.12. All members of the public and other stakeholders are welcome to respond to aconsultation whether or not they have been specifically invited to do so.13. We will carefully consider all responses to each consultation, and publish the results,detailing the responses received, and explaining how we have taken these into accountin arriving at a decision.14. Any complaints about the consultation will be published so that decision-makers canassess the effectiveness of the consultation before making their decision.
Vanessa Smith ● 2611d