Government Best Management Practice (BMP) documents can be excellent resources. These documents often provide a valuable starting place when people are looking to learn more about a specific topic or specific regulations.
When communicated well, these documents can be invaluable. When communicated poorly, people often can’t find the document at all or can’t easily use the information found within the document. One specific example of a document that needs to be better communicated is: “Develop with Care 2014: Environmental Guidelines for Urban and Rural Land Development in British Columbia”.
This specific BMP is not easily accessible online and needs to be clarified in order for its intended target audience to find it useful. Specific links and examples with respect to federal, provincial and municipal regulations to be better communicated throughout the document.
Proposed solutions to this communication challenge:
1. Request feedback from all stakeholder groups in order to edit the document to introduce more user friendly elements, such as links and relevant examples to other required regulations.
2. Rename the document in order for it to come up during a general online search.
3. Clearly outline federal, provincial and municipal regulations and the differences between these three levels of government with respect to this specific set of BMPs.