Facilitating discussion on contentious technical issues between different interest groups

Brief

CAG was engaged by the Environment Agency (EA) to design and facilitate a participative meeting to discuss and agree the way forward on a highly contentious issue regarding floodwater management at Earith, in the Ouse Marshes, Bedfordshire.  The purpose of the meeting was to bring together relevant stakeholders to consider a review of options for managing sluice gates at Earith.  This included those with an interest in water level management, flood risk, drainage, conservation, wildlife, abstraction and farming.

How we delivered the project

CAG worked closely with the EA in developing a detailed programme for the meeting. Our role was to ensure that all participants understood the issues and were supported and enabled to contribute freely and effectively. We designed and managed the event to ensure that we captured all outputs, and that participants jointly agreed recommendations for the next stage of development.

Objectives achieved

We produced a comprehensive report outlining the results of the meeting, and detailing all the comments made. This was used by the client to inform changes to sluice gate management.

“CAG were enthusiastic, asked the right questions, cracked the whip when they were dragging their heels (which was good).  The feedback from the event was very positive (Environment Agency).”