Oxford-Cambridge Arc Pilot
Discover how PlaceBuilder was used to help inform the future of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc
The Oxford-Cambridge Arc (the Arc) is the area comprising of five ceremonial counties: Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. The Arc has the potential to be one of the most prosperous, innovative and sustainable economic areas in the world.
In early 2020, the Ox-Cam Arc team within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government used The Future Fox’s digital platform Placebuilder to conduct meaningful, innovative and inclusive community engagement, informing potential major regional policy changes in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.
We worked closely with the MHCLG to set up the engagement to get meaningful results, interpret the data, and engage key senior stakeholders.
The objective
Working with the MHCLG, our objective was to understand the views of over 1,000 people for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.
We planned to achieve this by engaging the community via PlaceBuilder, connecting with them via a strategic social media ad plan to receive responses from across the diverse community that reflected the baseline demographics.
Solutions
Over 1,300 people responded to the consultation via PlaceBuilder to share their views on potential policies for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc Spatial Framework. There was a remarkable platform conversion of 28%, this was proven to be significantly more effective than a control survey using a common online survey form with just 3% conversion.
PlaceBuilder achieved particular success in engaging harder to reach groups, particularly younger age groups (18-30s) and ethnic minorities, using 2011 Census data as the baseline.
PlaceBuilder's Impact
The data received from PlaceBuilder in the Pilot supported the government’s decision to move forward with a three-phased consultation for communities to have their say on the future of the Arc.
We were thrilled with the Pilot’s success and to have been commissioned as digital engagement partners on the globally significant Oxford-Cambridge Arc consultation.
Find out more about the Oxford-Cambridge Arc here.