A two-year programme brought together four distinct projects - planned works to a historic local museum, an improved food and drink hub, a state-of-the-art medical centre and a new transport hub. Each had its own audiences, sensitivities and stakeholder concerns.  

The brief from Rutland County Council and Melton Borough Council was for a joint, UK Government-funded programme spanning both authorities. 

Our challenge was threefold: Communicate the projects as a coherent regional vision rather than four unconnected schemes; engage a complex range of stakeholders across the region, ensuring underrepresented voices were heard and that both councils were presented as genuinely joined-up and forward-thinking in their approach. 

We created a coherent narrative by establishing a new brand - Rural Innovation in Action (RIIA) - that united all four projects under a single identity. This gave residents and stakeholders one clear, recognisable platform for updates, helping them feel informed and in control. 

We undertook comprehensive research and stakeholder mapping exercises to identify all key stakeholders and developed a diversified strategy to ensure underrepresented groups had the opportunity to have a say in all schemes. This particularly focused on engaging the younger generation through proactive outreach with youth forums, local schools and disability working groups. We facilitated a series of workshops that generated valuable feedback, which directly led to changes across several schemes. 

We delivered 12 consultation events and engagement sessions and created eight bespoke engagement plans to ensure every stakeholder was informed at the appropriate stage, and to keep the wider project team aligned.  

A key part of keeping people updated across all projects was a newsletter distributed to more than 5,000 people across Melton and Rutland, achieving an open rate of 61% - considerably above average - providing regular and visual updates across all four schemes.

The engagement strategy saw the project team directly engage with 310 key stakeholders as identified in the initial mapping exercise and a much wider audience of residents across Melton and Rutland. The success and progress of the projects led to visits from secretaries of state, in which we supported the council in managing. The two planning permissions were granted unanimously, enabling the schemes to progress to delivery and allowed the early rollout of a new bus service. Our wider engagement with residents saw the project newsletter reach 5,000+ residents and press coverage reach a readership of four million people.