"If you want to correctly consult with residents, you first need to make sure they are properly informed." For Linda Beck, Strategic Adviser for Consultation at the municipality of Lingewaard, that principle shapes the way the municipality communicates with its residents.

Together with Frans Zuidam, Adviser for Communication and Consultation, she developed an approach that makes it easier for residents to stay informed without having to search for updates themselves. Through InLingewaard, a white-label version of Publiq, the municipality brings relevant information directly to them. Residents choose which projects and areas they want to follow and receive a notification when there is an update.

For Lingewaard, this is also a way to start the conversation earlier. Residents are kept informed from the beginning, including on projects where there are no concerns or objections at all.

From a central website to actively reaching residents

InLingewaard did not start with a search for an app. Linda and Frans had already brought the municipality's consultation projects together on a single online platform. Information that had previously been spread across different places could now be found by project on Samen Lingewaard. That solved one problem, but raised another question.

"We had a fantastic consultation website, full of information and with a clear vision behind it," Linda explains. "But how do we get that information to residents?" A website can be easy to use, but people still have to remember to visit it. According to Linda, that often happens when something starts to affect them or they become concerned about what is happening.

That was when Publiq came into the picture. The municipality of Lingewaard was already using the BouwApp and, during a conversation about how they were using it, founder Mark van der Kooi introduced them to Publiq. "That was when all the pieces started to fall into place," says Linda. "We were not looking for it, but suddenly the solution was there."

Information that comes to you

With InLingewaard, residents decide which areas and projects they want to follow. They only receive notifications about developments that are relevant to their own surroundings. For a municipality with dozens of ongoing projects, that distinction matters. Not everyone needs or wants to know about everything that is happening across the municipality. "They are in control of what they want to know," Frans explains. "We can then give them the information they have actually asked for."

For Frans and Linda, this is one of the key differences compared with social media. Algorithms make it difficult to know who will actually see a post. With InLingewaard, residents actively follow a particular project or area. When the municipality publishes an update, it arrives directly on their phone. "If we need to inform people, I can create an update within ten minutes," says Linda. "They get a notification in their pocket and immediately have the news that is relevant to them."

Keeping communication human

The introduction of InLingewaard also came with a change in tone. Lingewaard used to communicate formally with residents, but Linda and Frans have deliberately moved towards a more direct and personal style.

They also avoid automated acknowledgements. "We would rather wait a day before answering than immediately send an automated response that creates distance," says Linda. "When you respond personally, people know that you have seen their question and that you are dealing with it."

If a full answer takes longer, the municipality lets the resident know that the question is still being looked into and has not been forgotten. When someone responds critically or angrily, Linda and Frans sometimes suggest a phone call. Their experience is simple: "People often just want to be heard. If you are willing to have that conversation, you can move forward together."

Information comes before consultation

For Linda and Frans, good communication is where consultation begins. Residents need to understand what is happening, what stage a project has reached and where they can still have a say before they can properly contribute. InLingewaard therefore links residents to the municipality's consultation platform, where they can respond to plans, complete surveys or register for meetings.

The app also helps Lingewaard reach people at the right time. A letter about a meeting sent two weeks in advance can easily be forgotten. A notification on the day itself puts it back on their radar.

When residents have a better idea

For Lingewaard, consultation also means being prepared to change a plan when residents come up with a better idea. Frans gives the example of a table tennis table on a grassed area. The initial idea was to remove it and potentially replace it with a pétanque court. Feedback from residents showed that the table tennis table was regularly used and that there was already somewhere to play pétanque nearby.

Residents understandably wanted to know why something they used should disappear. The proposal went back to the drawing board. "I thought it was one of the best things I have experienced," says Frans. "The residents simply said no. If we listen to that as a municipality, people feel that they are genuinely being heard. That is consultation!"

Communication takes the lead

Project managers and project support staff provide the information, but the Communication and Consultation team remains in control of what appears on InLingewaard. Frans jokingly describes himself as the gatekeeper. "I decide which projects go onto the platform and check updates before they are published." That means making sure information is easy to understand and does not slip into unnecessary council jargon.

Keeping that responsibility with one team also prevents every project from developing its own communication style. At the same time, Frans encourages project teams to share the smaller developments along the way. "Now we really take people through projects step by step," he says. "We share more than we ever have before."

Executive support makes all the difference

Lingewaard's approach was not the result of a detailed project plan. Linda and Frans started with an idea of what they wanted to achieve and developed their vision as they went. "We are not the kind of people who work everything out down to the last detail before getting started," says Linda. "We just started and dealt with things as they came up."

Crucially, they were given the freedom to try something new. Both Linda and Frans are clear about what other municipalities can learn from that experience: "Executive support really is the most important thing."

Sharing what they have learned

The collaboration between the municipality of Lingewaard and Publiq has continued beyond the implementation of InLingewaard. Both organisations actively share what they have learned with others facing similar challenges.

Linda and Frans previously spoke at a Publiq customer event, where they talked openly about the implementation of InLingewaard and the lessons they learned along the way. Publiq and the municipality also hosted a webinar together to explore their approach in more detail.

That knowledge sharing will continue at the 2026 Landelijke Omgevingsmanagementdag (LOMD), where Publiq and the municipality of Lingewaard will host a joint workshop. There, they will share practical insights into what worked, what they encountered along the way and what they have learned from putting their approach into practice.

The next step

Linda and Frans want InLingewaard to become an even more established part of the municipality's way of working over the coming years. They are looking at opportunities within the social domain and, in the future, at giving residents the option to choose information based on topics as well as projects and areas.

They also want to start using the app earlier. Instead of waiting until plans are largely developed, they want residents to be able to follow projects from the moment the municipality first starts considering them. "Consultation often starts before construction begins," say Frans and Linda. "We would really like to start taking people with us from the moment an idea first starts taking shape at the town hall."