The Business Support Team Leader introduced the Budget Consultation 2020. She highlighted the key points of interest were included in the executive summary and explained this year had seen a new initiative to record online Question and Answer sessions which had proved worthwhile. There had been an increased response rate on previous years and where there had been a low response rate from local businesses, it was intended to do an online consultation with business rate customers.
A Member of Committee enquired as to the reason behind the increased rate of response, suggesting the pandemic may have had an impact as much as the amended methods of communication. He also asked whether anything was being done to engage with younger residents as the breakdown of responses showed a clear majority of older respondents. In addition, it was shown that only two District Councillors responded to the consultation and he enquired how that compared with previous years. It was noted that Councillors may have responded under other guises, such as a resident or a member of the Citizen Panel.
The Business Support Team Leader explained that the increase in responses was most likely a combination of factors, including the effect of the pandemic creating a somewhat captive audience as well as the alternative communications. She stated that it was important to build on the success this year and work to engage with under-represented groups for the next consultation. It was suggested that the categorisation of ‘District Councillor’ may not be required and this would be reviewed during the planning for the next consultation.
Having been proposed and seconded, it was
RESOLVED that the results of the Budget Consultation 2020 be accepted and the results and comments be considered during the budget setting process 2021/22.