Getting Involved in Your Community
Dover District Council is committed to listening to our
residents and finding ways to inform, consult
and involve you in the planning and delivery of council
services, and in the issues that affect the quality-of-life in your
community.
We want to encourage and support residents to become more active
in their community, so you can have your say, take part in
decisions that affect you and make a difference.
We recognise, and value the fact that, many people are already
active in the Dover district, giving up hours of their time to make
life better for themselves and their neighbours.
Below you can find out about how you can become more involved
and active in community and the issues that affect you and where
you live.
Active in your community
Being active in your community is about being involved, having
your say on local issues and taking part in decisions that affect
you. It's about people making things happen – becoming actively
involved in tackling the things that need to change around you. As
a result you will be able to improve the quality of life in your
local community.
How do I get more involved?
There are so many ways to become more involved in the
district, both big and small. For example:
Do You ...
- Vote in local elections or take part in surveys?
- Attend community meetings, such as the Dover District
Neighbourhood Forums?
- Help a neighbour with their shopping?
- Recycle?
Are You...
- Involved in community events?
- A volunteer for a charity or group?
- In a Neighbourhood Watch scheme or a member of the residents
group?
- A trustee or school governor?
If you can answer 'YES' to any of the questions above, then you
are already active in your community!
Help us to help you – become active in your community
Only by knowing what you want from us can we work to provide the
best possible services in the district. We need the people we serve
to tell us what they think of the Council and what they think we
can do to further improve our services.
Signpost
There are many ways individuals, communities, groups and
organisations can get involved and express their opinions.
The examples below will sign-post you to where you can
find further details - just click on the links.
We hope you find this information useful, please let us know if
there is anything else you think we should include.
- Attending the Dover District Neighbourhood Forum
meetings
There are five neighbourhood forums in the Dover District:
- Deal & Walmer
- Dover North
- Dover Town
- Dover West
- Sandwich Area
County, district, town and parish councillors will be at the
meetings to talk to you and gather opinions
and suggestions about issues in your neighbourhood. Join
us at your local Neighbourhood Forum and have your
say.
- Contact your Councillor:
Councillors are elected to represent their local community or
"ward". Find out who your local Councillor is.
- Suggest a topic for scrutiny:
Scrutiny is holding to account those that are making decisions that
affect our District and making proposals for major projects
and services to improve the District.
- Keep up-to-date with the latest Council, Executive and
Committee Meetings:
Details of all Council meetings, agenda and minutes are available
here.
- Local Development Framework
The Local Development Framework is a number of local
development documents outlining how planning will be managed
in the District. Register to be kept informed of progress on the
Local Development Framework.
- Regeneration:
Find out what regeneration will mean for the people and the places
of Dover District. You can also keep up to date with
key projects by visiting the Dover Pride website. Dover Pride is a
partnership of business, local and regional organisations and the
people of Dover.
- Responding to surveys, questionnaires and
consultations
Giving us your views will help us to provide better services. To
find out how to make your opinion count, please click on the find
out about the current consultations.
- Public Petitions:
Petitions sent in to the Council can have positive outcomes that
generate debate or highlight an issue leading to changes. Click on
the find out how to submit a Petition to the Council.
- Give us feedback:
Telling us what you think of the service we provide. We
welcome all of your comments, compliments and
complaints.
- Sustainable Community
Strategy:
A Sustainable Community Strategy for East
Kent, covering the districts of Canterbury, Dover, Shepway
and Thanet, is being developed by the East Kent Local Strategic Partnership, following
public consultation. Thank you for all your comments and
views, which are shaping this strategy. Please visit the
Sustainable Community Strategy pages for more information.
- Kent Agreement 2 (Local Area Agreement for
Kent):
This sets out the local priorities that will make Kent a
better place to be. It has been negotiated between central
government and Kent County Council, with other key
partners (through the Kent Partnership). The East Kent Local Strategic
Partnership is developing a Local Action Plan,
setting out how we will contribute to the targets
set. Information on how to become involved will be
available soon.
- Town and Parish Councils:
There are 32 parish council's and 3 town councils covering the
district. The town and parish council's provide many local services
and, as the third tier of local government, speak for their
communities.
- Use your
vote:
Make sure you are registered to vote; click on the find information
on voting and elections.
- Contact your MP:
Phone, write or e-mail the Members of Parliament covering the Dover
district.
- Local voluntary and community groups
You can also express your views through umbrella organisations such
as CASE Kent, the Dover and District Volunteering Centre and Dover,
Deal and District CAB; as well as other groups and bodies you may
belong to, such as residents associations, village hall committees
and forums.
- Help others: donate some time by becoming a
volunteer
You can make a difference by volunteering in your local
community. Please contact the Dover District
Volunteering Centre, a registered charity which supports,
promotes and develops
volunteering opportunities within the Dover
District. Address: 26 Victoria Road, Deal, Kent, CT14
7BJ;
Tel: 01304 367898; E-mail: doverdvc@hotmail.com
- Find out about events and festivals taking place in the
district:
Please see our Community "What's On" pages
for a list of Community
Events. You can also add you own group or
organisation to these pages to promote what you do. A
Selection of the Larger Events are also listed on the
White Cliffs Country website.
-
Customer Access Reviews:
We would like to involve local voluntary and community groups in
helping us complete Customer Access Reviews, to improve services
for the benefit of the whole community. These reviews focus on
specific equality strands to highlight where we need to promote
equality of opportunity for a particular group. We will be asking
the Dover District Voluntary and Community Sector Network to help
co-ordinate these for local groups. Please let us know if you are
interested in improving our services.
- Partnership Working:
We work with a number of different partners and partnerships.
Please follow the link for more details on the key areas
of our partnership working.
Decisions made by Dover District Council affect all residents in
the district. Your views will be used to inform local
decisions and, in the end, shape the way in which we achieve the
ambitions of the Dover District Council Corporate Plan and
Sustainable Community Strategy.
Use your chance to influence the way your Council works for
you.
Contact
Tel: 01304 872314
Email: policy@dover.gov.uk
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