Localism and community engagement

LOCALISM IS ALMOST HERE

By Michael Hardware, published in Building4Change - click here to view the published article.

If we believed the National Trust, CPRE and The Daily Telegraph, having a decent home will increasingly be only for the lucky few.

The Localism Act was given royal assent in November, although we wait for the National Planning Policy Framework, expected in March, and details of implementation of the reforms.

This is against a background of last year when the lowest number of new homes since the war were built, and some 1.8m families (five million people) being on local authority waiting lists, let alone the over one million other people who want to buy, but cannot due to availability and affordability. There is no argument that we need more homes – an estimated 232,000 new homes per year just to keep pace with current demand – but if we believed the National Trust, CPRE and The Daily Telegraph, having a decent home will increasingly be only for the lucky few.

The Government is confident that the current planning reforms will lead to a significant increase in house building, and will play a part in stimulating our economy. Housing supply, even at current low levels, accounts for three per cent of GDP, and over one million jobs. Increasing housing numbers by just 130,000, to household projection levels, will create 195,000 new jobs, and many hundreds of thousands more in the supply chain.

So what do the planning reforms actually change in terms of community engagement? Broadly, there are three key points: it means the end of ‘pre-determination’, so councillors will be able campaign for or against developments, it places an obligation upon developers to engage with communities before any application is made, and it introduces neighbourhood plans and neighbourhood development orders. The reforms also aim to compensate and incentivise communities that accept development.

Developers and planners will need to review their planning communications, stakeholder engagement and community consultation approaches in light of the planning reforms. They may well need expert assistance, but with many more public relations consultancies now offering planning communications services, they will need guidance on selecting the right one. It is actually a crucial decision as getting this wrong could ruin their chances of ever progressing their project in that area.

Pre-determination
The reforms remove the pre-determination rule introduced in 2000. This means councillors will be free to take a pivotal role in discussions between developers and communities, and even campaign for or against a development. This opens up opportunities for developers and their consultants to approach councillors without fear of compromising them, and now that they are allowed to be public opponents or proponents of a proposed development, they will certainly be some of the loudest voices and key influencers, which is what the Government wants.

Advance consultation
More emphasis is being placed on consultation – consulting properly, earlier, listening, and incorporating the results into the proposals before a planning submission is made.  In fact, developers will be obliged to consult before they submit a planning application. The NPPF explicitly says that developers who involve the community in their designs will be looked upon more favourably. Thus, any pre-application consultation needs to be properly documented as it may be required to be submitted as evidence in the planning process.

Neighbourhood planning
Town councils, parish councils, business forums, and neighbourhood forums (which are groups of at least 21 people who are formally recognised by the council as being representative of their area) will have the power to draw up their own policies and create their own plans.  In terms of land, these plans range from covering whole towns to spread-out groups of villages, and to a hundred hectares of central London.  

Those developers that are proactive and seek to involve themselves in a community where they have a development opportunity, and actively assist with the neighbourhood planning process, will reap the results. Although it cannot be guaranteed that all communities will support the developer’s aspirations, or want the benefits offered, many will. But involving a community at the start of the planning process, asking them what they want to see on the land, and actively incorporating their suggestions, will build support within that community.

Incentivising and compensating communities
A key pledge from Government is that communities which accept development will be suitably compensated and have a meaningful say in how monies received under the Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 are spent. The planning authority will also have to spend the New Homes Bonus monies received from new development in consultation with the community where the development happened. There is a political wish that these amounts are also spent within the communities, but currently no obligation for an LPA to do so – it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

If the bulk of these monies do end up in the community, they will provide a huge incentive to accept development, but it will need to be guaranteed.

Planning communications
The need for earlier and deeper engagement with communities, and more liaison with local politicians, will mean that many developers will have to change the way they approach projects. Planning communications, stakeholder engagement and community consultation all need to be reviewed in light of the new planning regime, and the earlier appointment of specialist communications consultants considered.

In recent years, the number of public relations and public affairs consultancies introducing planning communications services has grown significantly: spurred on with the advent of localism. However, many of these new offerings lack experience and track record, and while some are overcoming this through recruitment, it is important to note that the overall number of true professionals in this field is currently very limited. Developers and planners are now faced with a huge choice of consultancies, and it is not always apparent which to choose. Key elements to look at are how long they have been doing planning communications, and what is the breadth and depth of their experience, what are the qualifications and experience of the executives to be working on your project, especially their understanding of planning and local government, and whether they have any experience in councils. Check that the services to be provided are actually required, ensure the consultancy has the capacity to service your project properly, and make sure that the consultancy does not intend to adopt dubious working practices, such as spurious public letters, bogus social postings, or people pretending to be residents to motivate support.

And finally, ensure the consultancy has proper systems in place to monitor engagement processes as this may need to be produced as evidence at the planning committee to demonstrate that pre-application consultation has been properly carried out.