3.1 We will consult with people who have registered on the Strategic Planning consultation portal when we carry out a consultation. Anyone can register on our consultation portal at www.thanetcouncilplan.inconsult.uk.

3.2 When people register, they are asked to indicate their area of interest, i.e. district wide (so would include the Local Plan/Review and some SPDs) or only certain towns/villages (e.g. Neighbourhood Plans and more specific DPDs/SPDs). This is to ensure that people only receive communication from us on topics that are relevant and of interest to them.

3.3 Statutory Consultees are people we are required under Planning Legislation to contact in every consultation. They include government organisations such as Natural England, Historic England and the Environment Agency. The full list can be found in Appendix 1. It will be necessary to hold more in-depth discussions with some bodies and agencies, both as part of the consultation process and as part of the Duty to Cooperate.

3.4 We want to ensure that everybody has the opportunity to get involved with planning decisions to get a good balance of views. In particular, the Council is keen to involve under-represented groups of people (or external agencies and organisations who represent them), often referred to as hard to reach, hard to hear or seldom heard groups. We will also seek to ensure that people/groups with protected characteristics are able to participate and give their views. We will look at different ways to engage with different sections of the community and encourage everyone to have their say. We will consider methods such as sending packs/leaflets or doing presentations at schools, wider distribution of leaflets/publicity material, evening/weekend consultation events and ensuring consultation events are accessible to all. On request, documents can also be made available in different formats (e.g. Braille, audiotape, large print, colour of font or page or a different language).