Consensus-Building
Conceiving and supporting the first participatory community component in any European national public consultationScottish Government ‘Talking Fracking’ Consultations
Following the Falkirk inquiry into onshore unconventional gas, public awareness and concern about the industry broadened across Scotland. In response, the Scottish Government imposed a moratorium on onshore unconventional oil and gas while further evidence was gathered. During this period, the Community Chartering Network (CCN) was increasingly invited by communities to speak about our involvement in the Falkirk inquiry and the work that had led to the Falkirk Community Charter.
In advance of the national public consultation on unconventional oil and gas, CCN was asked by the The Broad Alliance — a grassroots group of community leaders and representatives from across Scotland — to pilot a participatory process that would allow a whole community to explore diverse perspectives on the new industry, and to work towards a shared position. The pilot demonstrated that it was possible to create space for informed discussion and achieved consensus across differing views without polarisation or exclusion.
On the basis of this pilot, The Broad Alliance put the process forward to the Scottish Government for consideration. Elements of the approach were subsequently incorporated into the consultation design. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first, and possibly also the last, time a participatory, whole-community deliberative component has been included within a public consultation of this kind in a European context.
In 2017, as part of the national public consultation period, CCN was invited by sixteen communities to facilitate local discussions using this approach. These discussions formed part of the wider body of community input submitted to the consultation process.
All were carried out on behalf of Community Councils in or neighbouring areas designated by the Scottish Government as having UOG resources with the potential for extraction. All discussions were facilitated by CCN working in collaboration with Connecting Scotland (CS). Numbers of attendees ranged between 30-120 participants.
The sixteen representations, and CCN’s overarching summary of the outcomes, made a material contribution to the Scottish Government’s ultimate decision to impose an effective ban on fracking in Scotland in October 2017. In 2020, after a 7-year fight, Ineos finally withdrew its bid to commercialise unconventional gas in Falkirk—the application which precipitated CCN, Community Charters, and a significant public inquiry.
Due to the high quality of presentation and facilitating skills employed by CCN members, a large group of residents was able to discuss the benefits and risks of fracking in a fair and open forum, and reach a consensual community position.
The meeting received positive feedback from residents, who later approved CCN’s report for accuracy. I would not hesitate to use the CCN team again for future consultations.
arisen that has had the potential to illicit differing opinions or perceptions.
CCN ensures everyone is able to express their view, that outcomes are community-led and reflective of the communities views, and that consultation events are well managed and produce consensus in potentially divisive situations.
We would have no hesitation in returning to CCN for assistance and would recommend their services to others.
Process
Each consultation was around 2 hours long and followed the same format of information sharing (50 mins), open group discussion on the potential pros and cons of UOG extraction for their community and Scotland (50 mins), and coming to consensus on the community response to Scottish Government (20 mins). The outcomes were written then up by the CCN and CS facilitators and all participants were invited to amend or object to any part of the written summary.
Following this feedback process, the summary was handed onto the Community Council to submit to the Scottish Government. On all 16 consultations consensus was reached that the outcomes accurately represented collective community position.
You can read CCN’s summary of the outcomes of the 16 consultations, or the individual submissions for Airth, Avonbridge and Standburn, Bonnybridge, Bo’ness, Denny and Dunipace, Grangemouth and Skinflats, Kirkinitilloch, Milton, Plains, Robroyston, Shieldhill and California, Shotts, Saline and Steelend, Torrance and Westfield.
The process highlighted a number of important issues related to citizen participation in democratic decision-making related to issues of local and national importance. These included:
- the absence of effective structures enabling communities to collectively discuss and agree on issues that affect them;
- the capacity of communities to reach sophisticated consensus position on complex divisive issues in a short time, with appropriate support;
- the value of an informed and considered position to Government or other statutory bodies, for enabling them to make decisions and take actions they can feel confident people will be happy with.