Method of Approach Adopted for the Project
Community and Local Stakeholder Workshop
The workshop was held over one day on November 15th 2004. At the outset of the project, the cost involved in inviting all of the focus group participants to the workshop had been identified as prohibitive. In consequence, just over half (30 participants) were invited to attend, with 27 actually turning up on the day. In order to compensate for the investment in time for attending the workshop, focus group participants were paid an incentive of £50. They were joined by invited representatives of local interest groups who lived in the borough and parish councillors. The workshop opened with an informal illustrated presentation on ‘What on Earth is Landscape Character Assessment’ and on the Test Valley Landscape Character Assessment. This provided participants with the necessary background to the topics for discussion during the day and helped to explain the Draft Summary for Consultation sent to the participants earlier in the week.
The participants were divided into three sub groups, with each one being assigned a different geographical area of the Borough to discuss. Participants were allocated to the different groups according to where they lived, thereby attempting to ensure that people were asked to talk about areas of the Borough they were familiar with.
It was the original intention that each group would be facilitated by a social researcher who had been fully briefed on the project. One landscape architect was also allocated to each group in order to provide technical support where required. Owing to a last minute problem, it was in fact necessary for a landscape architect to facilitate one of the groups. In the event this provided a control group, allowing a comparison between using either a professional trained in landscape or in social research.
Within the geographical region of the Borough allocated to each group, boundaries and names of landscape character types and areas were discussed, using OS maps, overlain with the landscape character areas as a reference tool. The characteristics of the areas were considered and discussed by the participants. In some groups an overall strategy for each character area was discussed but this part was not covered in any depth. One group discussed the draft guidelines for their geographical area. In order to provide some direction and to keep the discussions focused, an outline topic guide for the sessions was prepared by Miller Associates Ltd. All discussions were tape recorded and the transcripts of these tapes were used to assist in the review of the draft landscape character assessment.
At the end of the workshop, and after completion of the discussions on the landscape areas and types, the focus group participants took part in a ‘wash-up’ session. As these participants had had no previous experience of participation in such a project, this session provided them with an opportunity for a frank and open discussion on what they saw as the value of the workshop and their involvement in the process.