Uniting a community and achieving a resounding YES vote!

During 2016, thanks to the development of a detailed community engagement campaign, Keystone helped St Neots Town Council achieve a 93% YES vote for the adoption of their Neighbourhood Plan. After this, it was a natural step to offer our expertise to neighbouring council Huntingdon Town Council in the run up to the development of their own Neighbourhood Plan.

Like St Neots Town Council, Huntingdon Town Council was focused on ensuring that the local community had a strong awareness of its proposed Plan. It was essential that each and every person living and working in the town were given ample opportunity to absorb the proposal and share their feedback on its key components.

We initially guided Huntingdon Town Council through our proven community engagement strategy process. With clarity gained, Keystone developed a community centric campaign; utilising a range of online and offline marketing tactics to reach across the whole community. Residents and businesses, stakeholders and other influential organisations were all considered and connected with.

After a formal development process, once the referendum was scheduled for September 2019, we worked closely with the Council team again; developing new messaging to educate and inspire residents, and encourage them to use their referendum vote. And the numbers speak for themselves – with 87% of residents voting in favour of the adoption of the Huntingdon Neighbourhood Plan in the official referendum.

An initiative that delivered strong communication and clear impact thanks to Keystone’s approach.