Communities in Falkirk feel 'disengaged' from a 'remote' council that sees engagement as a 'box ticking exercise', officials have been warned.
A review of the council's community engagement strategy presented to members of Falkirk Council 's executive on Tuesday admitted that much of the work being done was not easy to measure - but where there were targets, these were far behind where they should be.
And a senior officer told councillors this week the council needs to be "honest, open and transparent and share decisions with our communities".
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Head of housing Kenny Gillespie told members of Falkirk Council's executive: "What we have heard in the past is that communities would get involved, however, they think it is pointless. We've heard that and we need to change that."
The review started during the pandemic, where the council successfully helped local groups to reach those who were most in need of support.
At the time, members agreed that the council should look to build on that by working with communities in a more collaborative way.
Mr Gillespie said: "Communities expect a different relationship with us - one that is more supportive of their leadership and enables them to do more for themselves, with the correct support."
Councillor Robert Spears said that social media showed what people think of the council.
He said: "They see us as remote, they see our consultations as box-ticking exercises, they don't feel they are being listened to and they have disengaged."
He said the council should adopt more social media such as Facebook pages for each town in the district "where people can vent their frustration".
The Labour group leader, Councillor Anne Hannah, said that while it was important to use social media, there needs to be more face-to-face meetings with communities.
She said that the recent online consultations on closing Falkirk Town Hall and the current one on the strategic property review "could be improved on considerably".
"Our consultations need to be honest, open and transparent so that people can actually say what they think and not be directed.
"We need to make people believe that we are listening and to do that we need, first of all, to listen."
The Conservative group added an amendment that made clear the executive was "disappointed that progress on all nine strategic priorities are behind projected progress".
These include: increasing numbers on the People's Panel and 'showing communities how their contributions make a difference to decision-making'.
The best progress had been made on ensuring the views of parents are represent in education and in establishing the community choices fund, which allows local people to have a say in how some money is spent in their area.
Since the strategy was written a new communities team has been put in place and the report says they are keen to change the current ‘us and them’ relationship where Falkirk Council is the ‘director’ of public services.
The council leader, Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, said it was important to see the report in context and that the new communities team inherited the strategy at a time of covid.
"Having the review has been really helpful and it has identified where we need to improve, but also where things have worked well and we need to build on that," she said.
Members agreed to set up a policy development panel, which involves members of all parties and an Independent councillor looking closely at the issue.
