Royal Borough
of Kingston

Client

Kingston Council was unable to provide the quality of service it wanted to residents, and could not deliver a viable business plan to achieve national standards. At the time of our appointment, the council was losing around one-third of its annual income to the subsidy system.

We were appointed to hold some conversations with local residents, and find out what sort of change people might be willing to support. Working alongside partners PPCR Associates, we delivered an intensive four-month programme of contact and research with residents.

We provided the widest possible range of ways of tenants and leaseholders to share their views about the future of local services. Our activity included a detailed phone survey with more than 1,000 residents, neighbourhood phone conferences, postal questionnaires, focus groups, a Facebook group, text voting and face-to-face briefings.

We also held a special Saturday Conversation event with keypad voting, a giant comments wall and specially designed ‘money game’ to explain the finances behind future options.

As well as helping our client to explore new and creative ways of running services, we helped to build a legacy of positive, active engagement. Our work reached large numbers of people who hadn’t previously taken part in consultation, and this provided a springboard for future partnership work with residents.

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