Managing diverse consultation needs in one platform
The challenge
Clackmannanshire Council needed to manage a diverse programme of public engagement across very different topics and scales. Their annual budget consultation required a sophisticated multi-phase approach to gather views on priorities, then detailed feedback on specific savings proposals and tax increases. Simultaneously, they needed to consult on school relocations, library service improvements, community asset transfers, housing rent reviews and leisure provision.
Each consultation type had different requirements. Budget engagement needed to handle contentious proposals affecting vulnerable residents, with accompanying Equality and Fairer Scotland Impact Assessments. School consultations required statutory processes and engagement with multiple stakeholders. Community asset transfer requests needed public comment to inform assessment of community benefit.
The council needed a platform that could handle this variety whilst maintaining consistency in approach, making it clear to residents how their feedback influenced decisions, and allowing staff to manage everything efficiently in one place.
The approach
Clackmannanshire Council uses Citizen Space to run their entire consultation programme, adopting a consistent "We Asked, You Said, We Did" approach across all activities.
Multi-phase budget consultations: The council runs a four-phase budget engagement programme. Phase 1 seeks views on council priorities and the services most valuable to residents. Phase 2 gathers feedback on specific officer savings proposals, fee increases and council tax changes, alongside draft equality impact assessments. This phased approach allows the council to understand community priorities before presenting detailed proposals, and to gather targeted feedback on impacts and potential mitigations.
Statutory consultations: For proposals like school relocations, the council uses Citizen Space alongside required stakeholder meetings and public events. When consulting on permanently relocating St Mungo's RC Primary School, they received 324 responses online whilst also holding a public meeting with 52 attendees and nine stakeholder consultation meetings, managing the full process through the platform.
Service-specific engagement: The council runs consultations on library and community access point services, leisure and wellbeing provision, housing rent reviews and other service areas, gathering detailed feedback that informs service design and investment decisions.
Community asset transfers: Public consultation on asset transfer requests is managed through Citizen Space, with comments informing the assessment of proposals before they go to committee for decision.
The results
Clackmannanshire Council has run comprehensive engagement across all service areas through Citizen Space. Their budget consultations have received strong response rates, with 938 responses to their 2024/25 priorities consultation and 433 responses to their 2023/24 phase 2 consultation.
The consultations have demonstrably influenced decisions. Following their 2025/26 budget consultation, which received 267 responses, councillors decided not to close Alva and Tullibody community access points and not to remove non-domestic rates discretionary relief for charities and sports clubs, directly responding to public feedback. The council agreed a £170.98 million revenue budget and £248 million capital investment programme, with all respondents' views taken into account.
Other consultations have shaped major investments and service changes. Feedback on leisure and wellbeing provision showed clear evidence that a swimming pool was required, leading to council approval of a £16.8 million capital budget for a Wellbeing Hub in Alloa. The library and community access point service improvement survey received 136 responses, with feedback presented to councillors informing service decisions.
School consultation on St Mungo's RC Primary School relocation received 324 responses, with strong feedback about retaining individual school names leading the council to decide against renaming the building "Alloa Campus", preserving school identity as consultees requested.
The consistent "We Asked, You Said, We Did" approach across all consultation types has created transparency and accountability, showing residents how their participation influences council decisions from major capital investments to service details.
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Citizen Space has been a breath of fresh air and nudged us to re-think the way we engage…It’s a great tool supported by a very proactive and knowledgeable team and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to organisations wanting to improve the way they consult.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.