Councils - Legal eagles or council democratic services associates please help re consultation periods

[oracle39]

Is there a minimum legal time period to have a consultation with the public?
Our council threatening to close 8 out of 11 libraries put out a library consultation sheet for 2 weeks, but some of those libraries are only open 4 days so the public had 8 days to respond! Thats not consultation is it???
If a library user had not come in during that period they wouldn't know their library was under threat, as only one local paper has reported on it and not everyone reads it.
Did they have to consult? Maybe not but they chose to - so once they took that step were there legal guidlines?
please advise

[jackthehat]

Writing a 'loud' letter complaining about the lack of consultation *does* have an effect. Householders where I live (different issue to libraries, though) forced another longer, wider consultation process and managed to halt some proposals which would have been steam-rollered through..........

[bednobs]

i only have experience of the NHS. If there is a "major change" planned then there has to be a formal 12 week consultation. The rub is in defining "major change"

[bednobs]

by the way, a public consultation dosen't mean that the council have to do what the maority of respondees say

[oracle39]

There have been petitions our is 550 names even in such a short time. I faxed a letter and some people emailed the MP and councillors, about the consultation and its short period. The thing is they weren't going to do one at all, I think they were persuaded at short notice. They have to set the budget by 1st March and they want proposals on the table by mid February! Are we supposed to be grateful that they gave a few people the opportunity to say something? I'm pretty sure they never expected the response they got! Thats why I wondered if there was a standard legal period?

[bednobs]

well it seems their hands were tied then if they have to do something by mid-feb - they couldn't have had a longer consultation even if they wanted one I work in public engagement (for the NHS) and unfortunately govt bodoies can't really be run by counting up how many people are for and how many against, it just dosen't work like that. It takes a very skilled engagement professional to come up with a meaningful consultation on something that, lets face it, no-one is going to be happy with. Otherwise it just becomes a tick box exercise to say you have consulted. Out of interest, what was the question that was asked and were any alternatives given? there should be no need to consult on something that is a done deal, and is not influencable. That should just be giving information, rather than consulting