We Asked, You Said, We Will

View detail about the engagement - engage.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/inspiring-aberdeenshire-2022

We asked

You to nominate people across Aberdeenshire who go above and beyond for their communities. We asked for nominations across eight different award categories.

You said

We received lots of varied nominations, and it was wonderful to read so many stories of people and groups who make a difference across Aberdeenshire through their dedication and passion.

We did

Our panel of judges met to review all the nominations received and selected our finalists for 2022. We created short films about our finalists to share their work and showcased this as part of the awards ceremony held in October 2022, where we announced our winners. We then held a civic reception for the winners in November 2022 at Meldrum House Hotel, officially handing over their awards.

We sought your views about bus services to the Insch area. Our survey included questions about the Ready2Go Around Inverurie service which was introduced in August 2021 to replace timetabled journeys on Service 41 (Insch – Inverurie). Further information about Ready2Go can be found at Ready2Go bus services - Aberdeenshire Council

The survey was open to anyone but was aimed at bus users with experience of Ready2Go and/or bus service 41 for travel between Insch, or nearby settlements, and Inverurie.

The survey closed on Sunday, 30 October 2022. The full analysis report is available to view.

View detail about the consultation - Clerkhill Shopping Precinct, Peterhead - Public Realm | Engage Aberdeenshire

In the summer of 2022, two engagement surveys on the potential public real improvements work were launched. One survey was for the local community, the other for businesses in the Precinct (including owners, operators and staff).

What you said:

There were 177 respondents from the community and an additional five business respondents. The majority of the 139 respondents who gave their postcodes were AB42 residents. The postcode area with the highest response rate was AB42 2 with 96 identified respondents.

Other demographic questions were asked namely age of respondents and whether respondents identified as having a disability. These were felt to be important to the project due to the challenges of the site, especially for anyone with restricted mobility.

The number of younger respondents was low and the number of respondents identifying as having a disability was low. It should be noted that demographic or ‘About you’ questions are entirely voluntary. There may be more younger respondents or respondents with disabilities, but this cannot be known for sure.

People were asked to rate Clerkhill Shopping Precinct public realm on four themes from the Place Standard. The Place Standard tool asks people to rate their places on a scale of one to seven, where one means lots of improvement is required and seven means very little improvement is required.

On three themes the public realm at Clerkhill Shopping Precinct scored three out of seven and in the remaining theme scored four out of seven. This would suggest the community believe there is considerable room for improvement at the site.

It should also be noted that there were many positive comments about the businesses in the area and how important the services on offer are to the local community.

You can see below a summary of the priority actions from the engagement as well as information on issues identified that are not part of the project.

What we did/ will do:

Aberdeenshire Council considered all the feedback along with the findings of ground investigations work which took place in autumn 2022.

All this information is being used to work on designs for public realm improvements. In 2023 there will be a further opportunity to engage with the community and businesses on the designs. Opportunities to get involved in the engagement will appear on Engage Aberdeenshire and be publicised at Clerkhill Road Shopping Precinct.

Comments on the Place Standard ratings highlighted the most important issues. The community responses also prioritised specific potential changes that could be made. By combing these findings, the following priority actions can be identified from the engagement:

Not all community feedback can be dealt with by the scope of this improvement project. These are the key issues raised which won't be part of the Public Realm project:

View detail about the consultation - Insch - Strategic Needs Assessment | Engage Aberdeenshire

The project was to carry out a Strategic Review of the Health and Social Care needs for residents of Insch and the surrounding area, to develop options for a model of service delivery which is effective, sustainable and fit for the future. An essential element of the review was to gain the views and opinions of the community, this was achieved in 3 three phases:

1) Registration of Interest

We Asked - the community to register their interest by providing contact information if they wished to participate in the engagement activities

You Said - 1,365 people were interested in finding out more and being involved

We Did – an on-line and postal survey to gather information

2) Survey

We Asked – people to provide information on their experience and opinions of current health and social care services, and views on future health and social care needs

You Said - 960 people completed the survey, providing 3,059 individual comments

We Did – analysis of the information which identified topics and areas of importance that were then used to inform; the Strategic Needs Assessment report and the themes for focus group discussions

3) Focus Groups

We Asked – people to attend on-line and in-person focus groups to participate in more in-depth discussions on the themes highlighted by the survey, i.e what the local hospital means to the community, functional issues with current building, and what services would support the future needs of the community

You Said – 107 people attended the focus groups, providing 849 comments

We Did – further analysis on the views and feedback to help further shape the Strategic Needs Assessment report. The report then informed and supported the Options Appraisal process undertaken by stakeholders from the community, staff and management which resulted in a number of delivery option models to be considered

View detail about the consultations - Local Development Plan 2027 | Engage Aberdeenshire

We Asked

In preparation for the Development Plan Scheme, to be published in December 2022, the Planning and Economy Development Plan team has conducted a number of surveys with the general public, Community Councils, the Youth Forum, infrastructure providers and development interests to inform and engage on the options available for preparation of the next Local Development Plan. These surveys have been supported by audio-visual presentations and focused meetings.

You Said (as at Aug 2022)

While responses have been limited, there is a consensus emerging on key issues regarding how that plan is to be produced.

We Will

The Development Plan Scheme will reflect the above consensus on key issues when it is published, initially for consideration by Area Committees and latterly by Aberdeenshire Council.

View detail about the consultation - Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service | Engage Aberdeenshire

We Asked

How residents and visitors view, value and experience the historic environment and heritage of the region? The survey aimed to:

• discover more about which sites in Aberdeenshire people feel connected to or consider to be the most important to them
• understand how people engage with heritage and the historic environment
• find out if people know about the Council’s Archaeology Service and how we currently promote the historic environment
• help guide future directions for promotion of the historic environment by the Archaeology Service

You Said

- The majority of respondents knew that Aberdeenshire Council has an Archaeology Service, and over half were aware of at least one aspect of the promotional activities of the Archaeology Service.
- Most people agreed or strongly agreed that Heritage & the Historic Environment make a positive difference to their lives.
- Almost half of all those responding regularly participate in historic environment / heritage activities.

We Will

- Do more to promote Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service and its existing resources.
- Take the responses into consideration when prioritising the team’s future promotional activities (social media posts, leaflet themes, interpretation boards).
- Continue to support and promote engagement with historic environment and heritage activities throughout Aberdeenshire.

Please view the one-page summary. Full report available at the consultation link above.

View detail about the consultation - Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) Services in Aberdeenshire | Engage Aberdeenshire

We Asked

About whether the timing was right to try operating a different type of bus service; how you would like a Digital DRT service to work; your current and proposed levels of bus travel; and your views on testing Digital DRT in the Inverurie and/or Deeside areas.

You Said

• It was a good time to try a new type of bus service (75%)

• You liked the concept of DDRT (82%)

• 32.2% indicated they would wish to book using an App, 50.2% wanted the option of booking by App and phone and 11.2% would prefer to phone;

• 19.1% would want to book trips in advance, 11.6% just before travel and 66.6% would wish to have both booking options;

• 44.7% would want to use a bus stop, 18.8% to be picked-up at their ‘door’ and 34.3% either at a bus stop or their door depending upon the circumstances;

• 84.4% thought it was important to be able to track the vehicle through the App, with only 5.2% not considering this important;

• 89.9% felt it was important to receive service disruption information, e.g., late running, through the App, with only 1.8% stating this was not important; and,

• 83.1% believed it was important that the App also included details of other bus information/times, with only 8.9% considering this to be unimportant.

We Did

• We decided to introduce a pilot project up to August 2022, initially operating in the Inverurie area.

• We commissioned a software supplier, Moovit, to provide a system for booking and managing a DDRT service.

• We commissioned a bus operator, Watermill Coaches, to operate a pilot DDRT service in the Inverurie area.

• We launched the Ready2Go DRT app, incorporating a public transport journey planner and Ready2Go booking facility, in early August 2021.

• We launched the Ready2Go Around Inverurie bus service on 16 August 2021.

• We commissioned a consultancy firm, Stantec, to evaluate the project.

• We decided to extend the pilot Ready2Go Around Inverurie initiative for another year until August 2023.

View detail about the consultation - https://engage.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/aberdeenshire-council-website-survey

We Asked

If you are a regular user of the council website, www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk, or have used it in the past, we would like to know what your experience was. Your feedback will help us improve the website so please help us get it right.

You Said (as at March 2022)

Improve site search, make navigation easier, improving presentation, improving quality of information, make sure contact details are available and easier to find.

We Will

Aim to use feedback from this survey to benchmark your satisfaction when the new website is live. This will help us identify if we need to make further changes.

View detail about the consultation - How We Prioritise Bridges | Engage Aberdeenshire

We Asked

For your comments on proposals set out in a draft Bridges Policy and Procedure.

You Said

A variety of comments were provided.

We Will

Implement the Proposed Bridges Work Bank Prioritisation Policy and Procedure following amendments made to the policy and procedure based on consultation feedback.

The Policy and Procedure were agreed at the council's Infrastructure Services Committee in May 2021.