Published: Wednesday 5 November 2025
Residents came together last week to celebrate collaboration on a new Charter for Public Participation – the first of its kind for local councils.
From July to September, 12 residents worked alongside Council staff to create Public Participation Commitments – a new guide for how we consult and engage with the community. If approved by Full Council on Wednesday 3 December, these Commitments will replace the original Charter.
Original Charter for Public Participation launched five years ago
The original Charter launched in 2020 set out how residents could contribute to shaping local services and have a voice in decision-making. We pledged to review this document five years on – a promise that also reflects our commitment to the Grenfell Inquiry Report, ensuring residents’ voices are heard and valued.
We initially launched a 12-week consultation in March to ask residents to share their views on how we can improve public participation in local decision-making. Their feedback laid the groundwork for co-design sessions that ultimately shaped the new Commitments.
What residents wanted from the new Commitments
During the sessions, residents explored the language, tone, and focus of the new document. They called for:
- greater accountability from us
- a system to monitor impact and whether the new Charter is being embedded
- more transparency to help rebuild and strengthen trust
- a clearer, more human tone in the Commitments, making it easier to understand
- more meaningful feedback following consultation processes
Another strong theme was the need to meet people in their own spaces – including young people and underrepresented groups – and to ensure the Commitments are accessible and inclusive, including being available in different languages.
In our last session residents got to work on rewriting sections of the original Charter and looking at language and any key areas residents thought were missing.
AJ Tumlos, Youth Council member, said: “In my two to three years that I have been here, this is the one time that young people have been heard, and it is a really proud moment. We're going to take this as a positive sign that young people can be heard. Public participation is crucial for young people, and this was a really good collaboration, where everyone's opinion was heard, no one was ignored. It was also fun and interactive.”
Carol Patterson, local resident, said: “I'm a typical resident who doesn't actually get involved, so when the opportunity came up, I thought why not. I thought it would be great to do something rather than sit in the background. The sessions were incredible and I loved that there was a wide range of residents involved, a really diverse group.
The fact that everything we said came together in the final document was impressive. I see so much of what we talked about in the document, it’s really exciting. The key now though is once this is implemented, we need to see the Council following through and continuing the level of engagement and outreach that we have talked about.”
Cllr Sarah Addenbrooke, lead member for communities, who attended one of the sessions and the celebratory event, said: “These new commitments are really important to the Council. It is one of our commitments that we made to the Grenfell Inquiry and it is central to what we do. Co-designing and co-producing services that residents really want and need as we go forward is vital. I’m grateful to the residents and officers who took part and who put in a lot of time. I think we have a really good strong end product in these Public Participation Commitments.”
What’s next for the Public Participation Commitments
A full version of the Commitments will be included in the Council’s Constitution, alongside a shorter “quick read” and a resident-requested infographic.
A new framework will also measure how the Commitments are being delivered, supported by a resident oversight group to hold the Council to account. More on this soon.