What is Rother Citizens Panel?
The Panel are hundreds of Rother residents who volunteer to take part in consultations and customer research from Rother District Council and its partners. Any resident can join.
Our Panel members tell the Council a bit about themselves and give permission to the Council to contact them. We try to match the demographic characteristics of Rother in the Citizens Panel so that the Panel can represent the whole population.
The Council sends the Panel members links to current consultation web pages, or could call and ask questions on the telephone or ask them to come to discussion groups or workshops. The Council gives feedback to the Panel members on what they and other people have said in consultations and customer research. Main contact is through email and our Facebook group (closed group, Panel members apply to join).
You do not have to take part in every activity or opportunity. We do consultations four to six times a year, on average.
You can join the conversation on Twitter – https://twitter.com/RDCconsult
Recruiting New Members Now
We need more local residents aged under 60 as new members. People aged 16 to 59 are under-represented on the Panel compared to the demographics of Rother. Residents aged 60 and over may be placed on a waiting list until we get more members under 60.
We need more women, of all ages, to join the Panel. Women are under-represented on the Panel compared to the demographics of Rother. We will still accept applications from men aged 16 to 59 but men 60 and older may be placed on a waiting list until we get more women members.
We need more people from ethnic minorities to join the Panel, particularly from Black, Asian and mixed heritages. People who are not White are under-represented on the Panel compared to the demographics of Rother. We will still accept applications from White British residents. Other White applicants may be placed on a waiting list until we get more ethnic minority members.
We need a few more people who live in Bexhill to join the Panel. Bexhill residents are a bit under-represented on the Panel, compared to the demographics of Rother. However, we continue to encourage applications from residents living in rural Rother, Battle and Rye.
The only Rother residents exempt from joining the Panel are elected members of Rother District Council. This is because the councillors are the council that is doing the consulting and they will get to debate the issues and make decisions, taking into account what you have said.
If you do not live in Rother you are not eligible to join Rother Citizens Panel.
To register use this online form https://surveymechanics.com/s/RotherCitizensPanel
Any Questions? If you have any questions please contact the organisers of the Rother Citizens’ Panel at citizenspanel@rother.gov.uk
Current Activity:
Our Citizens Panel trialled a new recycling service during October and November 2019. They were helping us to find out what worked, what didn’t work and where problems might come up. We hope this new service will be available to all residents after we’ve learnt the lessons from the trial.
