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Questions and Answers

Have Your Say: Make a Difference: Dover District Council is committed to listening to our residents and finding ways to inform, consult and involve local people in the issues affecting life in your community.  

Have a Say

• Neighbourhood Forums are just one of the ways the council encourages people to speak up about what is happening where you live. The Neighbourhood Forums can discuss a wide-range of local and district wide issues, not just those involving Dover District Council or Kent County Council.
• We will invite speakers to come to the meetings to talk and answer questions about specific topics chosen by you - these can be councillors, council officers, police, health and others. Past topics include planning, community safety, active older people, climate change and youth services.
• The Neighbourhood Forums are also a preferred method of consulting our residents; issues likely to impact on our communities will also be discussed at these meetings.
• Have you got a burning issue you think the Forums should be discussing. Please see our What's Hot page for information on how you can tell us about issues affecting your community and what matters to you.    

What areas do the Neighbourhood Forums cover?

There are five Neighbourhood Forum across the district, following the KCC electoral boundary:

1. Deal & Walmer Neighbourhood Forum: Middle Deal, Mill Hill, North Deal and Walmer.
2. Dover North Neighbourhood Forum: Aylesham, Eythorne, Great Mongeham, Guston, Langdon, Nonington, Northbourne, Ringwould with Kingsdown, Ripple, St.Margaret’s at Cliffe, Sutton and Tilmanstone.
3. Dover Town Neighbourhood Forum: Buckland, Castle. Maxton Elms Vale and Priory, St.Radigunds, Tower Hamlets and Town and Pier.
4. Dover West Neighbourhood Forum: Alkham, Capel-Le-Ferne, Denton with Wootton, Hougham Without, Lydden, River, Shepherdswell with Coldred, Temple Ewell and Whitfield.
5. Sandwich Area Neighbourhood Forum: Ash, Eastry, Goodnestone, Preston, Sandwich, Sholden, Staple, Stourmouth, Wingham, Woodnesborough and Worth.

Please see the individual Neighbourhood Forum pages for further infromation.

Who sits on the Neighbourhood Forums?

• The Neighbourhood Forums join all three tiers of local government to form one forum, with county, district and town and parish council members on each Forum. The forums are designed to help engage more closely with residents throughout the district and for us to work together to tackle common issues.

Who can go to the Neighbourhood Forums?

• The Forums are open to all residents - there is no need to book - just turn up.
• Although the district is divided geographically, residents are welcome to attend meetings in other forum areas if the topic interests them.

Where do you hold Forum meetings?

• We hold Forum meetings in local venues such as village halls, community centres and town council offices.
• We make sure that venues are accessible to people with limited mobility. 
• If you have any other special needs, or need something specific, please let us know and we will try to cater to your needs.
• Please see our Meeting Dates pages for more details on the meetings being planned.

When do the Forums meet?

2010-11: New look forums

Improving the Dover District Neighbourhood Forums (Forums) is a continuous process. From July 2010, the Forums are changing to become more flexible and responsive to local need - within existing resource.

Changes to the Forums include:

• Holding two fixed forum meetings a year (instead of each quarter);
• The opportunity to hold a further two flexible forum meetings a year;

Venue and time of the Forum meetings depends on the discussion topic. Please see our Meeting Dates pages for more details on the meetings being planned.

How do I find out about the Forum meetings?

• We advertise the meetings locally and in the local press; you can also find out more about meetings being planned by going to our Meeting Dates pages;
• We also add details to the “What’s on” section of the DDC website. 
• Send us an email to join our mailing list and we will send details of Neighbourhood Forum meetings to you so you don't miss any meetings of interest to you.  

Not just another “talking-shop”

• We are committed to informing, consulting, involving and listening to local people. Senior councillors and officers support the Neighbourhood Forums and things can happen when you speak up.
• Have your say and make a difference.

What else do the Forums do?

• Dover District Council and Kent County Council allocate funds to the Neighbourhood Forums for Small Community Capital Projects. Please see our Funding Information pages for more details.
• A representative from the Dover District Community Safety Partnership will also be at each of the Forum meetings for you to talk to, to find out what is happening in your area and report any concerns you may have.

Dover District Neighbourhood Forums:

Giving local people the chance to come together and have their say about where they live and the services they receive.

Contact

Please see Contact Details page for further contact details.