Lewisham Council is set to review its approach to resident engagement and consultation, aiming to create a more consistent and effective dialogue with the local community. The Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee discussed the review at its meeting on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, outlining the scope and objectives of the initiative.

The review, commissioned by the Mayor of Lewisham earlier in the year, seeks to understand existing engagement practices across the council, identify areas of success, and address any gaps. While the council already undertakes a lot of good engagement work, the review found that it is not always consistent. The goal is to develop a strategic engagement framework that will guide the council in better connecting with residents, businesses, and stakeholders. The review also aims to map key stakeholders to identify opportunities to increase engagement with underrepresented communities within Lewisham.

Helen Clarke, Director of Communications and Engagement, presented the review's progress to the committee. The framework will be built upon four key principles: inform, engage, consult, and co-produce/co-design. These principles aim to ensure that the council effectively shares information, seeks resident views, conducts formal consultations, and designs services in collaboration with the community.

We're doing it because we want to make sure that our approach to engagement is fit for purpose, Clarke said during the meeting. We want to make sure we're using the insight that we gain from engagement effectively and that we're engaging in a way that's consistent, robust, and enables us to genuinely listen to the views of all of our residents.

The review has involved mapping existing engagement activities, engaging with colleagues, councillors, residents, and partners, and benchmarking against best practices in other councils. Examples of good practice from other councils, including Tower Hamlets, Westminster, Southwark, Camden, North Lincolnshire, and Bedfordshire, were noted in the Public Reports Pack. These include:

  • Tower Hamlets Council: Engagement Strategy with clear objectives/pledges
  • Westminster City Council, Southwark Council, Camden Council: A central engagement 'hub'
  • North Lincolnshire Council, Bedfordshire Council: Staff engagement networks
  • NHS England Newham Council: Co-production toolkits
  • The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Hounslow Council: Citizens' Panels

The committee also discussed the importance of using a variety of channels to reach residents, including Lewisham Life magazine, the council website, email newsletters, and social media. The council's communications team has been working to expand its reach through these channels, including a recent effort to add council tax account holders to the email newsletter list, with an option to opt out.

Councillor David Walker raised the importance of member involvement and amplification in the engagement process. He suggested that directorates should ensure councillors are aware of relevant communications and have opportunities to provide input and share information within their wards.

Councillor Chris Best, chair of the committee, welcomed the review and emphasized the importance of feedback mechanisms and resource allocation for social media engagement. She also highlighted the need for clear communication about service expectations and potential delays.

The next steps include finalizing the engagement framework based on feedback from the committee and further stakeholder engagement. The framework will then be tested and monitored over the next 12 months, with ongoing adjustments to ensure its effectiveness. While the report pack for the meeting mentions that Tower Hamlets Council's engagement strategy has clear objectives that residents can expect and staff should deliver, providing the Council and residents with simple metrics by which to judge the success of the strategy, the Lewisham Council report does not specify what the metrics will be for Lewisham.