We built our enhanced engagement approach on solid foundations developed from 2013 onwards, while becoming more responsive, agile and innovative to meet the ambitions of our region’s stakeholders. We will further strengthen the customer voice in our work, and make sure that our organisation remains externally focused and accountable.

We structured our plan into four broad waves of engagement activity. A comprehensive stakeholder segmentation model supported this, ensuring our engagement was fully representative of the customers and stakeholders we serve. This was supported by an ambitious communications and outreach strategy to ensure that our engagement programme was accessible and would boost areas of low representation or participation.

Our ongoing engagement programme must support and enable ambitious economic development for our stakeholders involved in net zero and local area energy planning (LAEP). For hard-to reach and vulnerable stakeholders, it must facilitate access to available support through a growing partnership network, to ensure a just and inclusive transition.

Working in an agile and efficient way, we will continuously improve how we collaborate with individuals, communities and wider society, and strive to include diverse voices in our planning. Building strong engagement with individuals, communities and broader society helps us make better decisions, and it also helps us better prepare to meet their needs and aspirations. Our engagement plan for 2023-28 reflects these priorities.

Our plan’s foundations are the successes of our existing engagement programme. The advisory panels, in place for more than eight years now, sit alongside new groups established as part of the planning process, ensuring we reflect the diverse interests and needs of all stakeholder voices in our regions.

Our engagement strategy for 2023-28 is set out here and more detail around our stakeholder processes and governance is set out in our stakeholder engagement methodology.