Background
SP Broadway was instructed by a food-led commercial development company to undertake a concise programme of political and community consultation to support the redevelopment of a site on the outskirts of Petersfield to house a 40,000 sq ft supermarket, along with a relocation of the existing fencing factory (and jobs) to an out-of-town location.
Challenge
Set within a built-up residential area, and with Waitrose already established in the town centre, concern was raised among residents and politicians over the negative impact the change-of-use might have on residents in neighbouring streets.
Solution
- SP Broadway prepared a Political and Community Stakeholder Survey identifying the political makeup of Petersfield and East Hampshire, which enabled us to devise a political and community engagement strategy to understand the level of community support and key issues of concern.
- Applying a ‘bottom-up’ approach, we held a series of one-to-one meetings with key political and community stakeholders at town, district, county and parliamentary level to understand their views.
- We hosted a two-day public exhibition, with over 300 people attending and 164 filling in feedback forms.
- 76.2% of people supported the principle of the factory moving to secure its future and protect local jobs. This statistic was vital in gaining political and community support.
Result
Across-the-board stakeholder communications – meetings with residents, political briefings, the public exhibition and liaison with newspaper editors – established widespread support for the factory’s move to new purpose-built premises,’opening up’ a retail opportunity in the area.
