Council Jargon Warning – Residents Don’t Understand Change Proposals

Published on: 1 Feb, 2019
Updated on: 4 Feb, 2019

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

Council jargon is getting in the way of residents understanding the changes being made to services, councillors have warned.

The word “vulnerable” was an example given by councillors who said the term could apply to many different people at different times of their life.

The comment was made to Surrey County Council chief executive Joanna Killian by councillors as she and finance chiefs presented the feedback on the major consultation they undertook on the future of services such as libraries, community recycling centres and SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision.

Joanna Killian, the chief executive of Surrey County Council

Discussing how children centres will be re-modelled with 31 closing in a bid to meet the needs of the “most vulnerable” in “areas of deprivation” councillors said many residents did not see that has a good term to use.

Cllr Tim Hall, Conservative, said: “We are not communicating to them in a language they understand and vice versa.

“When we have a service change there does appear a difficulty to trying to communicate the policy change with the local service.”

Around 28,000 people across Surrey responded to the council’s consultation over the future of five major services.

But littered throughout the feedback reports presented to scrutiny was that many people did not understand what was being asked.

Cllr Richard Walsh, Conservative, told members of the corporate overview select committee on Friday (January 25) the word “vulnerable” was “nebulous”.

He said: “There is going to be a reduction in what we are doing in the perception to the public but we are not using words that are quantifiable.”

Ms Killian said as part of the consultation, which ended on January 4, she had held a number of one-to-ones with residents and community groups to explain certain aspects.

She said: “Sometimes you need to have very specific one-to-one conversations to get them to understand the enormity of the stuff we do. The more that we can talk to people about how to spend our money and where we spend our money – then asking people to make choices is less challenging for them.

“I think our weakness is communication and not consultation.”

Cabinet members voted on Tuesday (January 19, 2019) to accept recommendations to reduce the amount of children centres from 50 to 21 and to add nine satellite hubs and one mobile unit.

The papers will now go before all councillors at full council on Tuesday (February 5).

Common phrases/words found in Surrey County Council documents (compiled by LDR Rebecca Curley. Sourced from various Surrey County Council glossaries):

• Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) – An area designated by a local authority for action, based upon a prediction that national Air Quality Objectives are not likely to be achieved in that area.
• CSE – Child Sexual Exploitation
• CAMHS – Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services
• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)– The Community Infrastructure Levy is a new levy that local authorities can charge on new developments in their area. The charges are set by the local council based on the size and type of the new development. The money raised from the Community Infrastructure Levy can be used to support development by funding infrastructure that is needed to mitigate the impact of development.
• Capital funding – Money spent on the purchase or improvement of fixed assets such as buildings, roads and equipment.
• Coast to Capital (C2C) – The Local Enterprise Partnership of which the easternmost Surrey districts and boroughs are part.
• Early Help – Working with children, young people and families to identify and address problems before they escalate. Early help includes services available to all families as well as services for more vulnerable families who need a greater level of support.
• Highway Asset Management – The application of asset management to the management of publicly owned highway assets.
• Highway Authority – The organisation responsible for the management and operation of the highway network (generally the council) assisted, in most instances, by external or internal contractors and consultants to deliver the service.
• MASH Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub – The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) responds to initial enquiries about children, young people and adults. The MASH is based at Guildford Police Station and is operated by Children’s Service social workers, Adult’s Service social workers, health professionals and police staff.
• Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – A voluntary partnership between local authorities and businesses formed in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within its local area
• Local Transport Plan (LTP3) – Under the Transport Acts 2000 and 2008, every local transport authority in the country has to publish a Local Transport Plan (more commonly known as the LTP). The LTP sets out an integrated transport strategy for the area and outlines proposals for the future.
• Local Development Framework (LDF) – the portfolio of local development documents. It consists of Development Plan Documents, Supplementary Planning Documents, A Statement of Community Involvement, the Local Development Scheme and the Annual Monitoring Reports. Together these documents provide the framework for delivering the spatial planning strategy for a local authority area.
• Section 106 (S106) – Planning obligations are created under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. They are legally binding obligations that are attached to a piece of land and are registered as local land charges against that piece of land. Planning obligations enable a council to secure contributions to services, infrastructure and amenities in order to support and facilitate a proposed development.
• Stakeholder – an individual or organisation with a particular interest in a process.
• Strategic level – a strategy based policy or decision that operates at a higher level than a policy or decision created to deal with local and day-to-day issues.
• Transport Impact Assessment – a process of assessing the transport impacts of a proposal.
• Travel SMART – A Surrey initiative designed to provide local people with more travel choices that help cut carbon, costs and increase fitness. The initiative aims to support economic growth.

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