Bridging the language gap

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this was - kind of

Sometimes you need to seize an opportunity, but traditional consultation methods don’t really lend themselves to a quick turnaround. Despite only running for a week, this bilingual consultation gathered both high visitors and high meaningful engagement.

Fast paced consultation

What was going on? / Beth oedd yn digwydd?

They say good things come to those that wait. But in this instance Carmarthenshire County Council did not have that option due to both time constraints and local lockdown restrictions. 

With a short timescale to apply for funding from the Welsh Assembly Government to promote active travel, Carmarthenshire County Council needed an evidence base for the potential construction of a shared use (pedestrian/cyclist) bridge crossing the A484 in Llanelli. 

 

 

How we helped / Sut wnaethon ni helpu

Because of the short timescales, we had to be very inventive of how a consultation could be run that would not only reach a wide local community, but also give Carmarthenshire County Council all the information they needed during a oneweek consultation window.  

Our digital tools gave us a head start, which we then used to build upon the consultation, also aiding in providing a more informative approach. 

We opted to make the best use of images and CGIs to highlight the design options, followed by a brief online survey to gather feedback. 

Llanelli Active Travel Bridge Engagement

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Engagement Strategy

Breaking the language barrier

We learnt early on that the language we use not only influences engagement levels but also who participates.
Sometimes it’s a case of changing words, other times it's making our consultations bilingual.
Learn more about how language can influence your engagement here:

Accessibility for all

Bilingual Engagement

Because you need to speak to people in words they understand

Purposefully Light

You need to match the amount of information given to the type of engagement

Quick Turnaround

This consultation only took a week, but had over 500 responses

Video Walkthroughs

Video Walkthroughs
When a picture says a hundred words, videos say thousands

An engagement in time saves nine

To find out more about how we can help you engage when time is of the essence

Get in touch