Developing collaborative relationships with stakeholders has been central to the DBC process, consistent with the Transport Agency guidance that it is important to include the perspective of stakeholders in order to make good decisions and provide sound advice to decision-makers. Stakeholder engagement was undertaken to gather information about project context, to understand the problems, opportunities and benefits of the project and to obtain feedback on the options considered. Working closely with stakeholders has been critical for ensuring a new route is able to meet road user and wider community transportation needs and for avoiding as far as possible, adverse effects on landowners and communities, and the environment. The approach to stakeholder engagement was to firstly focus on engaging with identified key stakeholders through a series of workshops and then provide an opportunity for wider community feedback through online feedback and public open days. This approach recognises the Transport Agency's social and environmental responsibility, statutory obligations for the project (e.g. LTMA and RMA) and provided valuable information to be factored into the decision making process. Key stakeholders, identified in Table 3, have worked closely with the Transport Agency throughout the DBC process. Tabl