Keep the Dialogue Going – by Henrietta Hopkins

I’m in reflective and buoyant mood this morning.  Yesterday the Hopkins Van Mil team were at Alfriston in East Sussex running the last in a series of six engagement events, commissioned by East Sussex County Council, funded by DEFRA as part of the Pathfinder programme supporting communities adapting to coastal change.  The BBC reported on the event and a full report will be up on the Cuckmere Pathfinder website during the summer.

An end…

We’ve had the privilege of working with the community in and around the Cuckmere Estuary since 2009.  For us it means we’re nearly at the end of that particular chapter in a our work. We’re going to focus on writing up an objective and neutral report on what happened at the event yesterday, to join the five other reports which sum up the previous events.  We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to design the community engagement plan.  With our Associate Jo O’Driscoll of Rhoden Green Marketing and Communications and our expert team of Associate Facilitators, we have worked closely with East Sussex County Council and the Project Board to implement the plan successfully.

And a beginning…

For the community, ‘it’s the beginning of another different phase’ as one participant put it.  The talking hasn’t ended, in fact it’s beginning in a new way in the knowledge that at yesterday’s event consensus was reached.  One of the fantastic outcomes is the community’s desire to set up a ‘Friends of Cuckmere’ to support the next steps.

The aim

For all of us involved in the programme the aim was always to end 7 June 2011 with community consensus on the future of the Cuckmere Estuary.  Sometimes that felt a rather idealistic and unrealistic goal – but it worked.  Why? We’re going to blog more on the issue of dialogue in the next few weeks, but I wanted to put some initial thoughts down while they are still fresh.

Anita’s and my initial assessment of why it worked?

• Trust was built – as one participant said, ‘I arrived feeling cynical, I’m leaving feeling very positive’
• The analysis was evidence based
• The community itself decided on the options for change and the criteria for assessment
• Everyone was prepared to come to sessions with open minds and give up their time to work towards concensus

For Hopkins Van Mil it was an incredibly enriching and positive experience.  We’ll give you more thoughts on keeping the dialogue going in our next blog.

Cuckmere Estuary