Consultations

Welcome to the council's consultation pages.

These pages have been designed to let you know more about the council's approach to consultation and how you can get involved in and influence decisions in Sunderland.

The views of local people in Sunderland really do matter and they do influence decisions that affect everything from how we provide services to the future of the whole city. Sunderland City Council is committed to listening to, and acting upon the views of the local community. It is for this reason that the council carries out community consultation.

Community consultation describes a range of ways in which the people of Sunderland can exchange views to help influence decisions, inform the way services are delivered and improve their communities. It can be carried out using lots of different methods such as surveys, discussion groups, online forums, local events, meetings and exhibitions.

To find out about current consultations, register your interest in future consultations and to see what has happened as a result of past consultations go to our  Consultation Calendar

We take our commitment to consultation very seriously and aim to ensure that consultation is carried out to the highest possible standard. This means ensuring that:

• we are clear about why we are consulting and how we will use the results
• we only involve people if we are going to make a decision that can be influenced by their involvement
• we include all relevant sections of the community
• we look for opportunities to work with with our partners to avoid duplication
• we use a range of accessible methods to reach people and ensure they are able to take part
• we feed back to you our findings and how the information collected has been used
• we learn from our experiences so that we can improve future practice.

For more information about the council's approach to consultation and how you can get involved, please see the links on the right hand side.