By George Leroy, 3ni Practice and Delivery Manager
If neighbourhood boards want to involve a wider range of residents, the recruitment process has to make space for people who may never have seen themselves in this kind of role. That was one of the main lessons from our recent work with Maidstone Borough Council, supporting the recruitment and set-up of the new Pride in Place Neighbourhood Board for Park Wood & Senacre. It is worth noting that although the Neighbourhood Board is officially known as Park Wood & Senacre, the area it covers includes Park Wood and Mangravet, Senacre, Shepway, and parts of Loose and Linton.
The work needed to move quickly to meet the programme timetable. We needed to recruit a chair and board, put the basic governance in place and help the group get ready to begin its work; but there was also a clear ambition: this could not simply be a board made up of the people who already had the strongest CVs or the most experience of formal meetings.
The aim was to bring together residents with different experiences, knowledge and connections to the area. That meant thinking differently both about how people were reached and how they were selected.
Start with local relationships
We worked alongside Charlie Fox from Starlings Support, a local consultant with strong community connections and a deep understanding of the area. That local knowledge was not an add-on to the recruitment process. It was central to it.
Charlie actively went out and spoke to people where they were, explaining the programme, answering questions and helping residents understand what joining the board might involve. Maidstone Borough Council, councillors and local organisations also played an important role in getting the message out.
The result was approximately 50 applications from residents. Some had experience of boards or community organisations, while others had never done anything like this before.
That mix mattered. If recruitment relies only on familiar networks and formal advertising, it can easily attract the same people who usually come forward. Reaching a broader group takes active local work and trusted relationships.
Look beyond the written application
The next question was how to make decisions fairly without defaulting to the people who were best at writing an application or presenting themselves in a formal interview.
A written application can tell you about someone’s experience, but it tells you much less about how they listen, work with others, respond to a different point of view or contribute to a group. Those qualities are especially important for a neighbourhood board.
Rather than sift people out at the first stage, we invited every applicant to one of three group sessions. The sessions gave residents a chance to meet other applicants, explore local priorities and get a feel for what working together as a board might actually be like.
This also gave the recruitment panel a much fuller picture of what each person would bring. We could see people in conversation rather than judging them only from words on a page.
Just as importantly, the sessions worked both ways. Applicants could decide whether the role felt right for them before making a longer-term commitment.
The final decisions were not simply about choosing the most experienced individuals. Being a resident or having strong local links was fundamental, alongside creating a balanced and workable group with different backgrounds, perspectives and levels of experience.
Recruitment is only the beginning
A good recruitment process does not, on its own, create a strong board. The next stage is helping a group of people become a team, understand its role and agree how it will work. We supported the board to put the essential governance in place, including its Terms of Reference, Code of Conduct and approach to conflicts of interest.
We had initially expected to run a more formal onboarding session. However, the new board had already begun meeting informally and building relationships, so a standard induction did not feel like the most useful next step.
Instead, the board identified a more immediate need: support to think through what genuinely community-led decision-making should look like in practice.
That change of approach is important. Support should respond to where a board actually is, rather than delivering a pre-set package because it was part of the original plan.
Maidstone council said:
“3ni worked closely with us to recruit and establish the new Park Wood and Senacre Neighbourhood Board. Their structured but flexible approach helped us reach a wide range of local people and look beyond formal experience to understand what each person could bring. By combining wider neighbourhood learning with strong local knowledge, they helped us create a Board with a valuable mix of skills, perspectives and connections to the community.”
What can other places take from this?
Design recruitment around the board you want to create
If you want different people around the table, it is unlikely that a conventional process will be enough. Think about who may not respond to a formal advert, what might help them take the first step and how the selection process can recognise qualities that do not show up well on a CV.
Combine local knowledge with outside experience
The strength of the Maidstone approach came from bringing together Charlie’s local relationships, Maidstone Borough Council’s organisation and knowledge and the structure and wider learning that 3ni could offer. None of those elements would have been as effective on its own.
Be honest about representation
No single recruitment exercise can produce a board that perfectly represents every part of a community. There are choices to make about the size and balance of the group, and some voices will still be less visible than others. Recruiting the board is only the start. Members will still need to build relationships and create different ways for the wider community to shape the work.
Be clear, but stay flexible
Maidstone Borough Council was clear about what it needed from us, which helped everyone work at pace. At the same time, the team was willing to adjust the support when the board’s needs became clearer. Both were important: enough structure to keep the work moving and enough flexibility to avoid doing something simply because it had been planned.
Looking ahead
There is still work to do as members begin making decisions and developing the plan for Park Wood & Senacre, particularly in making sure the wider community continues to shape what happens.
However, the recruitment process has already shown how much knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment exists locally. The task now is to help the board use those strengths well and build lasting relationships with the community it is there to serve.