The community engagement website and handbook was officially launched by the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Planning, Dr Andrew Refshauge, on 3rd March 2003. 

Researched and written by Elton Consulting, the company's approach to this project contained two ideas not present in the original brief. The first was that the product should be primarily electronic - the website. Secondly, that project partners be approached both to help develop the resources, and to market them after publication.

This project was therefore the result of a unique partnership of government and non-government agencies. Commissioned by PlanningNSW (PNSW), its project partners were the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA), Lgov (formerly Local Government & Shires Association of NSW), the NSW Premiers Department and the NSW Department of Local Government.

The content of both website and handbook mirror each other, although the website is already a living document that changes as new practices emerge. As well as putting engagement into the context of the NSW planning system, both publications offer leading practice principles and a five step engagement cycle that is adaptable to many contexts. A list of commonly used techniques is also profiled. 

A 100% survey of NSW local government was conducted at the beginning of this four month project by Peter Williams at the University of NSW (UNSW). This was the start of a process that collected stories, case studies and policies to illustrate current practice in the field.

If you have contributions to make to the site, or comments about it please email engagement@planning.nsw.gov.au.

Background to project

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