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Engaging Decision Makers

Top tips and strategies for building trust and persuading decision makers

On this page: Campaign guides Council leader Councillors & officers Political events

LCC Political Neutrality

Campaigning is a large part of the organisation’s day to day work, but as a charity, there are certain laws and rules staff, volunteers and local group activists must follow.

Building political will

Political will is the key to getting your council to act on cycling and active travel. But what is political will, what does it look like and how do you get it?

Critical friend campaigning

This guide, specific to Stage 3 of our Pathway Approach, explains what it means to be a critical friend and how to use this as a framework for your campaigning.

Maintaining momentum

Schemes have started coming, you're building good relations with a few key councillors and officers but change can be undone, politicians can falter or lose their position, and it can be as easy to take a step back as forward. What should you do when this happens?

Getting your council leader on board

The council leader is the person every campaigner most needs to ensure understands the importance of action on cycling, walking, and mode shift away from cars. The council leader signs off on schemes and budgets and policy and action in basically nearly every case.

Meeting with your council leader

Tips on how to make the most out of a meeting with your council leader.

One on one cycle rides & walks

A brief cycle ride, or even a walk and talk with councillors, particularly cabinet portfolio holder or ideally party/council leaders, can be a transformative way of changing the dynamics of a relationship…

Meeting with councillors and officers

Here are some tips on how you should approach meetings with councillors and officers

Building trust with councillors and officers

You want to build a good relationship with officers and councillors and this includes getting them to trust you. Here's how.

Supporting officers

As your council puts out more schemes, you’ll start building warm, even informal relations with council officers. Here are a few tips.

Winning over active travel holdouts

Even in the most enlightened boroughs, delivering at pace on active travel, there can still be plenty of those not bought in, including councillors and officers. What can you do to get holdouts on board?

How your council works

It's important to know what the council leader does, what the cabinet is and what's the difference between a ward councillor and an officer. This resource explains the inner workings of councils in the UK.

How to Organise a Hustings

A hustings is a public meeting, traditionally held in person, to which leaders or specific policy area leads for each party standing for a forthcoming election are invited to clarify their position on issues in that specific policy area.

Dealing with disruption at events

If you’re running an event where you believe you may face disruptive elements, here are some options to help you out.

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