Your Community, Your Voice
Community Engagement Forums are public meetings at which you can raise any concern or make any comment about your local area and your local services? What do you think can be done to improve the place where you live?
The Forum meetings give you a chance to speak directly to the people who deliver your local services, for example policing, street cleaning and road safety. This is a chance for you to have your say about the issues that are important to you and the place where you live.
Community Engagement Forums are a chance for you to hold to account the organisations delivering your services - they enable you to ask any question or make any comment.
The Forums also give you a chance to be part of the solution to any issues as well as help to decide how money is spent on some community services in your area.
Who is involved?
The Forums bring together a number of organisations that deliver the services you use regularly: Selby District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and local parish or town councils.
Other organisations can be involved as and when necessary if particular concerns or comments are raised about their services.
Why have Community Engagement Forums been set up?
All of the organisations involved have a commitment to listen to local communities and act on what they hear. Rather than you having to speak to different organisations at different times about the same sort of issue, Community Engagement Forums enable you to make your point once to everyone. Then, all those involved look at how they can work together to solve the issue or improve things.
This means it is easier for you to have your say and easier for the organisations delivering your services to work more effectively to make lasting improvements to your community.
Where do they run?
There are five Community Engagement Forums covering the whole of the Selby district:
- Central Area
- Eastern Area
- Southern Area
- Tadcaster & Villages
- Western Area
When are they held?
Each Forum meets approximately once every 8-10 weeks. To find out more about when the next meetings will be held in each area, click on the individual Forum links on the left-hand side of this page.
Forum meetings are usually held in the evening, as part of an effort to make it as easy as possible for most people to attend. We recognise that this may not always be convenient (for example for those with young families or people who work shifts), so you can also use this website to have your say if you are not able to attend a meeting. Click here to find out more.
How do the Forums work?
At each meeting you can speak directly to representatives from all the organisations involved. These comments are recorded and the organisations then decide on the best way of resolving any problems or concerns at their Board meeting. The Board meeting follows the public Forum meeting, sometimes immediately afterwards, sometimes on a different day. If you prefer not to speak in public at the meetings you can submit written comments or you can just come along and listen.
Can I really make a difference through my Community Engagement Forum?
Yes. Experience so far has shown that what people say does make a real difference to what happens in their local community. Click here to find out more.