SGN took to the streets of Pevensey Bay today with a community team briefed to work door to door listening to the concerns of the community first hand—Bay Life, 31 October 2016
Interesting to see SGN stakeholder team members out on the streets of Pevensey Bay today. Talking to the team was also informative.
Their role, until at least the end of this week and possibly longer, is to make a connection with the community by working from home to home. Their brief is to see what concerns people have with regard to the gas network upgrade work that begins officially tomorrow (Tuesday 1 November).
Talking to Bay Life today (Monday 31 October) the team were happy to explain what they were doing.
It became apparent quickly, not only that experienced people had been positioned as community liaison staff in the Bay, but that they knew the facts about the proposed work and the concerns that had been expressed.
Does SGN put people on the streets in this way with all their projects? We guess that this may not be the case.
Fully aware of the meeting at the Ethel Wood Centre that caused so much controversy in the community (October 19), they were fully briefed with many of the concerns that were expressed both at the meeting and subsequently.
It also became apparent in the conversation, how seriously the company is taking the concerns of local residents. There was discussion about the possibility of utilising the library at some point in the duration of the project whilst it is in operation, to communicate further with people.
The team had just been in Waverley Gardens, and they talked encouragingly about the response that they had been getting from people about their enquiries and support.
Beyond the call of duty to put this kind of knowledge within the community on a door to door basis? It could be argued that the Ethel Wood Centre meeting was the tipping point, not just for the community but for SGN, in relation to their project strategy with the community.
They are clearly taking us all seriously, this is not taking the people of Pevensey Bay for granted.
The work that began today to call door to door on the community, is the kind of positive input that we need in the days before the work begins and during the lifetime of the project.
SGN earned public acknowledgement with their work today from local residents, there is more to come.
As the work begins, SGN and East Sussex Highways are now all taking the major disruption to community life seriously. They are taking steps to see that we are briefed about what is happening.
The stakeholder team we talked to today were a credit to their company. It is to be hoped that the residents that they saw door to door also felt that their work had value in relation to their individual concerns.
What we liked most was the enquiry from an elderly lady that they fielded on the doorstep. The lady needed help with her iPad, and when we stopped and talked, the team was busy seeing how they might be able to help with the enquiry by linking to library staff for more information.
Now that is what could be described as being beyond the call of duty.
As the work begins, it is for all of us to do what we can to see that problems are solved with family, friends and neighbours, and that contingency plans work.
In a media release issued on 21 October, a spokeswoman said that SGN would continue to work with the community. This appears to be what is happening in the way that was promised.
Representatives within the community are already putting contingency plans into action. Seeing SGN put their community plans into action today was also to their credit.
