Innovative Web Forum Launching Soon

New Plymouth District Council is encouraging the community to share their views on the Draft 2009-2019 Community Plan via a soon to be launched web forum.

“Talknewplymouth.com goes live on Tuesday next week (31 March) and will be a great place for people to discuss the draft plan and give their thoughts on the past, present and future of our district,” says Manager Communications Nick Maybury.

“The forum will be quick and easy to use. There’ll be no long sign-up process to go through – people will simply have to provide their email address and forum name and they can start posting comments straight away.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on the discussions and will be on hand to respond promptly to any questions that come up.”

Talknewplymouth.com will contain links to the web version of the full Draft 2009-2019 Community Plan and its summary, enabling posters to read up on the details of the draft plan before leaving their comments.

Those wishing to make a formal submission to the draft plan online will be able to do so at newplymouthnz.com/communityplan from 31 March.

“The forum is a first for NPDC and there are very few other New Zealand councils offering this kind of discussion board,” says Mr Maybury. “So it will be interesting to see how it’s used and what kind of take-up it gets.

“It adds a new dimension to the consultation process of the draft plan, which is becoming more user-friendly each time we do it.

“We’re hopeful of some strong interest in the forum – in particular we think it could be a popular tool for youth and those who favour the web as a place to communicate.”