Objective
Cascade was appointed to manage public consultation, political and stakeholder engagement for the London Borough of Havering’s development vehicle, Bridge Close Regeneration LLP. Redevelopment of the Bridge Close Industrial Estate formed part of the Council’s wider regeneration ambitions, with the emerging mixed-use reflecting the need for better housing and infrastructure in the borough.
Our role
The redevelopment will see 1,070 new homes delivered alongside a new school, health centre and a mix of workspace and community amenities. In addition, there will be a new bridge linking the site to Romford station and the town centre. The centre of Romford was designated in 2016 as a Housing Zone by the Mayor of London, however the scale and nature of the development is generally perceived as excessive by residents and business owners.
To support the plans, Cascade devised and implemented a programme of engagement with stakeholders and the wider community – which included presentations to councillors to outline the engagement programme, a comprehensive messaging workshop with the development team and council officers, and a series of consultation events detailed overleaf.
Impact
As part of the consultation and community engagement for the project and prior to commencing any engagement, our team conducted a comprehensive research phase including a stakeholder audit to ensure all potential stakeholders are captured including political, amenity societies, third sector organisations, businesses, and community / residents’ groups.
The purpose of the above activity was to ensure all stakeholders were involved in the process and could easily access the consultation process. A comprehensive stakeholder audit enabled the team to connect with as wide a range of stakeholders as possible and particularly people with protected characteristics (Equality Act 2010).
To date, the consultation for the proposed redevelopment of Bridge Close has included:
- Individual meetings with local groups and stakeholders;
- Nine rounds of public consultation events at different venues in Romford Town Centre;
- Approximately 2,073 residents and stakeholders were engaged during a four-stage consultation from September 2018 to October 2022;
- 27 hours of community consultation events;
- 38,000 invitation letters to residential and commercial properties in the surrounding area, including over 50,000 emails to publicise the events;
- A dedicated project website;
- Over 116,224 residents viewing social media posts and 11,000 questions answered by respondents online; and
- Online and paper questionnaires to encourage responses.