Client:
St John’s Cathedral Parramatta with jattca property
Project Overview:
The City of Parramatta Council exhibited a draft Planning Proposal and DCP for the St John’s Anglican Cathedral site. The Proposal was initially met with varied community sentiment, with some segments of the community sharing misinformation online. To address these challenges, Captivate Consulting implemented a comprehensive engagement strategy to ensure the community and stakeholders could access facts about the Proposal and provide informed feedback.
Objective:
The primary objective of the engagement strategy was to intercept online misinformation, provide accurate messaging, and inform the community about the St John’s Cathedral site developments. It sought to address community concerns, provide accurate project information, and emphasise the redevelopment’s benefits and opportunities.
Our Role:
- Developing and reviewing a FAQ Fact Sheet to address key project questions and ensure accurate information access.
- Conducting community engagement pop-ups to consult with key stakeholders, understand their perspectives, identify concerns, and propose mitigation strategies.
- Monitoring social media and consistently delivering online messaging to directly engage with the community, counter online misinformation, and provide timely information updates.
- Develop a project webpage, survey and information hub.
Challenges:
Challenges included countering some negative community sentiment, addressing online misinformation, and ensuring accurate project information was communicated effectively to the community.
Outcome:
The engagement efforts successfully countered misinformation, addressed concerns, and effectively communicated project benefits to the community. Stakeholder feedback indicated overall support for the redevelopment, with most favoring Option 1 (removal of Parish Hall). A total of 401 submissions were received by the council, reflecting a positive shift in community sentiment and understanding of the project’s advantages.
Why Captivate Consulting:
We understand how to craft custom engagement strategies to meet project-specific needs, ensuring effective stakeholder communication. For this project, it was paramount to address the issue of misinformation. Our experience in complex community engagement projects has given us the expertise to effectively manage online misinformation and provide solutions to ensure the accurate information is shared.
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