Public Consultation and Community Involvement in Planning

A twenty-first century guide

Penny Norton, Martin Hughes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317191360
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Real Estate
• Index: Business

Public Consultation and CommunityInvolvement in Planning is the definitive introduction to public consultation for developers, students and planners. The past decade has seen a complete transformation in consultation and community relations in the UK, from increased requirements to consult, to the introduction of neighbourhood planning and a revolution in online communication. Public Consultation and CommunityInvolvement in Planning takes readers through consultation from the basics right through to emerging trends to demonstrate how a successful consultation process can benefit both the developers and the local community.

The book begins with a definition of consultation and communityinvolvement and an explanation of their role within the development process, before going on to clarify the legal, ethical, practical and ideological concerns to be addressed by the consultation process. Consultation strategy is explored step by step, and social media and online consultation is explored in detail. This is the first comprehensive guide to modern public consultation within the UK development sector and will be essential reading for developers, students and planners.

1  Introduction

Why involve the public in development?

In 2011, embarking on the Localism agenda which was to set the scene for community involvement in planning today, the government said:

‘Pre-application consultation provides an opportunity to achieve early consensus on controversial issues before proposals are finalised. This should encourage greater community engagement in the process, and result in better quality applications submitted to local authorities, which are more in line with community aspirations, and much less controversial. Such an approach is considered to be inclusive and transparent, with development outcomes more in line with what the community desires.’¹

The statement was based on the following assumptions:²

• As a result of pre-application consultations, there is a 10–15% fall in the number of appeals, hearings and enquiries.
• Greater community involvement will benefit society by providing a positive and constructive role for local people in the planning process. The resultant increase in local support for new development should lead to more, better quality housing (and other development) being delivered.
• Many of the 10–20% of developers who do not currently consult do so not because there are no benefits of consulting, but because they (unlike their industry colleagues) have not caught on to the benefits.

Localism was largely driven by the need to substantially increase the UK’s housing stock by expediting the rate at which planning permission is granted, and it was based on the belief that local involvement would deliver greater consensus. Whether Localism has ultimately achieved its aims is a subject of much debate, but the notion that community involvement can benefit planning decisions is unequivocal.

Planning is ultimately about people: whether a local authority-run strategic plan or a private sector-led development proposal, change to the built environment impacts on communities. It is generally believed that those proposing changes should involve local residents as a courtesy, but planners and developers also have much to benefit from involving local people.

Consultation provides the opportunity for the development team to glean information and ideas from the local community. This might include knowledge of local history and which has the potential to enrich a scheme, otherwise unknown social issues which might have delayed the process, and the needs and aspirations of the community which may be met through the new development. With local input, proposals can be enriched and finely tuned to a specific neighbourhood, creating a unique scheme well suited to its location.

The local community, too, can benefit: community involvement can promote social cohesion, strengthen individual groups within it and create a shared legacy.

Having consulted thoroughly at an early stage and having had proposals either validated or challenged, a developer has a greater chance of building localised consensus and support for a proposed scheme.

A well-run consultation can build a trusting and mutually cooperative relationship between the consulting body and the community, which can minimise the potential for conflict and thereby remove the risk in the process. A widely targeted consultation can also increase the likelihood of support: those living closest to any proposed development are traditionally the most likely to object, but those further afield may welcome the additional facilities without concern about the construction process.

The proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport has attracted significant community opposition over many years. The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) drew attention to this in 2008, highlighting that a ‘growing militancy of protests’ was emerging as a direct result of ‘consultation processes which undervalue community input’, and that ‘failure to reform the system could create a new generation of Swampy-style protestors’.³

It said,

The RTPI believes the Heathrow protests, which resulted in security breaches at both Heathrow Airport and the Houses of Parliament, occurred because the protestors believe they are powerless to effect change through official channels. It warned that unless the community consultation process is significantly improved, high profile protest activity against major infrastructure developments will become common once again.

This example shows how the consultation process, if run badly or half-heartedly, can have a negative impact. But the reverse is true: a good consultation can both strengthen communities and benefit development proposals. In addition, it has the potential to enhance the reputation of the consulting body and in doing so can also benefit community relations during construction and beyond.

Defining community involvement

The terms consultation, community engagement and community involvement are regularly and interchangeably used.

Throughout this book, we use the terms community engagement and community involvement in relation to the wide-ranging communication which may take place between either a local authority and its residents, or a developer and the neighbours or future users of a potential development.

More specifically, the term consultation is used to describe the process whereby an organisation communicates with the public for the purpose of shaping a development plan or planning application.

Communications theory

In 1969, the US communications academic Sherry Arnstein identified the terminology of consultation in her Ladder of Citizen Participation.⁴ Although our usage of the terms differs, Arnstein’s theory is a useful resource by which community involvement can be considered today.

Arnstein’s ladder (Figure 1.1) was intended to reflect the relationship between community and government, identifying poorly led participation as ‘manipulation’ on the bottom rung of the ladder and rising to ‘citizen control’ at the very top. Although communications professionals today take issue with ‘consultation’ being termed ‘tokenism’, and most would quite justifiably choose to ignore the top two rungs of the ladder, the framework has endured because of the way in which it so clearly recognises varying levels of community involvement.

Figure 1.1 Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation

We would suggest alternating the positions of consultation and placation, thereby positioning consultation at the centre of the ladder, representing a process which involves local people and government/organisations equally. Ideally the fifth rung would be divided further to reflect the fact that consultation itself has many forms, as is shown in Table 1.1:

Table 1.1 Stages of consultation

Stages in community involvement

Community involvement is not a brief break in bureaucratic proceedings when a developer or local authority asks a local community to approve its proposals.

Effective community involvement is a long-term process. At a strategic planning level, the formulation of a local plan has many stages at which residents may contribute, and simultaneously residents have the opportunity to become involved in land-use decisions by taking part in (or even leading) neighbourhood plan consultations. For a specific development, local involvement can include input into the first scoping document, consideration of the options, the drawing up of detailed plans, contributing to the local authority’s consultation, and remaining involved in communication with the developer during construction and beyond.

Conclusion

This book provides a companion to each stage of community involvement, from the formulation of a local plan or neighbourhood plan through to community-building post-construction. It is intended to be read by local authority planners, planning consultants, developers, communications professionals – indeed all those involved in the community involvement process. Providing an overview of the recent changes affecting community involvement (Chapters 2–5), a discursive look at the process of planning (Chapters 6–13), and practical advice and best practice (Chapters 14–20), it aims to inform, provoke and advise, and in doing so, fully prepare its readers to oversee community interaction effectively.

Notes

1Department for Communities and Local Government (2011) Localism Bill: Compulsory Pre-Application Consultations Between Prospective Developers and Local Communities Impact Assessment. London: DCLG.

2Ibid.

3RTPI (2008) PR 11 – Heathrow Protests May Be Just the Beginning [Online]. Available www.rtpi.org.uk/briefing-room/news-releases/2008/february/pr-11-heathrow-protests-may-be-just-the-beginning-rtpi [Accessed 12 October 2016]

4Participatory Methods (2014) The Ladder of Citizen Participation [Online]. Available www.participatorymethods.org/method/levels-participation [Accessed 12 October 2016]

Part I

The context of consultation today

2 A brief history of community involvement in planning

The emergence of community involvement in planning: 1945–1979

The conclusion of the Second World War brought about many radical changes, and planning was not exempt. In fact the 1947 Planning Act is widely regarded as one of the most significant pieces of legislation in planning history.

The Act firmly established the requirement for planning permission, removing the centuries-old rights of landowners to develop land as they chose. It established 145 new planning authorities (borough and county councils), each of which was required to prepare a comprehensive development plan. In...