Helping residents resolve issues and answer questions about council services was at the heart of a series of conversations across the Dorset Council area.
Four sofa sessions saw councillors and officers available to speak face-to-face with residents, listening to the subjects and the issues which mattered most to them.
Armed with a sofa to make people feel at ease and able to talk informally, and a comments board which was added to during the day, scores of people took the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues important to them and their community in Bridport, Blanford, Wareham and Ferndown.
Ward councillors were joined by cabinet members, who are at the heart of decision making, to have open and honest conversations. 
Cllr Belinda Bawden, Cllr Dave Bolwell, Cllr Mark Roberts and Cllr Laura Beddow.
In each location highways maintenance, waste and recycling, website navigation, road safety, planning, parking and public transport, were all hot topics. Customer services officers showed residents how several of the issues raised could be easily reported through the council’s website, such as raising highways maintenance issues or ordering new bins.
Other subject specific queries were passed on to services to answer in a more detailed way. These included issues such as:
- Adult social care support
- Website feedback
- Cost of living support for elderly residents
- Specialist blue badge queries
- Escalation for missing waste collection
Cllr Laura Beddow, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Culture, Communities and Customer Services, said: “We wanted to connect with residents in person. Now more than ever, it is important to have open conversations, to listen to our residents and to signpost people to council services that can meet their needs.
We wanted to test public reaction, to see if these types of conversations were what people wanted. Following the positive response, we hope to have more sessions next year, hearing from even more people. In the meantime, we will be running a series of Facebook live sofa sessions this autumn where we will be bringing our sofa to yours”.
Dorset Council will be running a series of Facebook live sofa sessions this autumn, beginning Wednesday 2 November. If you would like to get involved, keep an eye on Dorset Council’s Facebook page for more information.
How to contact Dorset Council
The council website is the first place for residents to go to report an issue, share compliments or complaints, or find out information. Other ways to contact the council are calling 01305 221000, emailing, or visiting a customer service access point. You can also talk to your local councillor who is there to help.
