We Asked, You Said, We Did

The effects that climate change is having on society and our surrounding environment is becoming increasingly more apparent. Our lifestyle choices and habits will need to be changed in order to adapt to this changing climate such as reducing our energy consumption, which will provide many benefits to both our natural environment and to ourselves. 

Arlen Hill Council asked you what challenges you are currently facing in day-to-day life while adapting to a changing climate, and what you suggest we can do as a council to help tackle the issue and become more resilient city.

We received a wide range of comments and feedback throughout the course of this consultation from both online and in-person events. Some of the main points put forward were:

• TRANSPORT: A need for better transport infrastructure such as segregated cycle lanes; extension of bus routes and increased frequency of buses to more rural areas and; the introduction of electric vehicle scheme, such as e-scooters and e-bikes. 
• SUPPORT: More support needed from the council to transition citizens and businesses to a more eco-friendly and climate-aware lifestyle
• WASTE: Reduction in plastic use within supermarkets, an increased frequency of bin removal, and better organisation of the recycling centre so it's easier to use. 

These results will be presented to the council in March 2022. We will publish all results and analysis in our Climate Emergency Action Plan which can be found on our website. 

We asked you for your thoughts and comments on the proposed Healthy and Active Children Strategy for Arlen Hill.

We received nearly 500 responses from a broad range of service users, stakeholders and private citizens.

The main points of feedback were:

1. The questions in this consultation could have been better structured to elecit the kind of feedback that you felt was necessary.
2. Staff may find it difficult to work with a broad age range of children. You felt developmental specialists would be preferable.
3. Schedule in some weekend and evening clinics to support those parents working full time.

1. Following the consultation we ran a facilitated focus group and invited those participants who said they wanted to say more to ensure they were represented in the service specification.
2. We clarified that we would not expect all Healthy Child Programme staff to be working across the whole age range as a matter our course, and that each member of staff would work across the age group most suited to their skills.
3. We have included in the service specification that the provider should provide services available at locations and times that suit the service user.