Thank you for taking part in this survey!
We want to ensure all residents, communities and stakeholders in the Stroud district are listened to and can influence the policies and services that affect them. We want to help you understand how and why decisions are made, and how your feedback can influence those decisions.
Your responses will help us gather valuable insights into the priorities of district residents and ensure that our consultation and engagement activity is relevant and meaningful.
The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. All published results are anonymous. If you choose to provide personal information for the purposes of keeping you informed, this will never be used in connection with your survey responses. Visit www.stroud.gov.uk/privacy to see how we manage personal information.
All questions are optional. You can skip over any questions you do not wish to answer or select the ‘Prefer not to say’ option.
If you have any questions about the survey or consultation at the council more broadly, please email policy@stroud.gov.uk.
Before we get started...
What is a consultation?
The Local Government Association defines a consultation as technically any activity that gives local people a voice and an opportunity to influence important decisions. It involves listening to and learning from local people before decisions are made or priorities are set.
Councils sometimes have a statutory requirement to consult their residents and this is especially true for issues such as planning, or redevelopments. Statutory consultations are bound by legal requirements, such as Best Value legislation, and can have strict rules surrounding how they should be conducted.
There are also non-statutory reasons that local authorities may want to conduct a consultation exercise for. These can include:
- to improve planning, policy and decision making
- to make better use of resources
- to access new information, ideas and suggestions
- to encourage greater participation in the activities of the council
- to govern by consent (a full and fair consultation, with careful consideration of all views, can strengthen the legitimacy of the prevailing view among those people not in favour of the final decision)
- to measure residents’ satisfaction with the council
- to shape council activities around residents’ needs and aspirations