Consultation Hub | Page 1

How public communication changed since the 1940s and why it matters for new towns now. From shared national stories to fragmented networks, AI-generated objections and the new demands this places on planning communications.

The same technologies that make consultation more accessible can also automate objection. Planning promoters need to respond by making consultation easier to engage with, harder to manipulate, and more transparent.

Opposing factors and risks are common to public participation: the very notion that developers bring change to established local communities; the wide-ranging views which exist within a community; the sentiment of those wary of engagement and exponents of it. Significant time and financial resources are expended with no guarantee that the investment will be realised, ...

There are many different facets to community relations during construction which will be addressed in later blogs. This first blog on the subject concerns the vital role of resident liaison. It goes without saying that local residents will be more positively engaged with a development team and less critical of it if their locality is ...

With pre-planning consultation complete and planning consent won, a significant amount of public participation has been accomplished. But as the project moves into the construction phase, community engagement too enters a new phase. Inclusive and engaging consultation creates a foundation for the next stage of public participation. But rather than a continuation of the work ...

In consulting on a specific proposal, the logical sequence of a strategy, however wide-ranging the involvement activities, establishes clear aims and objectives, enabling the development team to share values, expectations and understanding with local residents and organisations. A strategy is also the best means of identifying relevant issues, which provide context and insight as the ...

The simple answer, from my point of view is yes – all good consultations will have a consultation strategy. A strategy puts in place clear aims and objectives which ensure that the consultation team shares values, expectations and understanding. It also ensures that a wide range of relevant factors are identified at the start of ...

Online consultation is increasingly popular for many reasons, one of which is accessibility:  parents of young children, the very old and the disabled, not to mention the time poor and commuters have all used online consultation as a means to engage on a development proposal. But if online consultation is to be truly accessible – ...

Well run campaigns in opposition to a future development, particularly petitions, can cause considerable harm to reputation.  But fortunately planning bodies acknowledge that consultation is not a vote and that decisions should not be based solely on numbers. And the historic emphasis on the statistical analysis of responses has changed with the advent of various ...

Consultation results are likely to disappoint local residents if the consultation has not been publicised adequately, opportunities for involvement are limited, consultation tactics are half-hearted and comments are not listened to. Disappointment can fuel negativity – sometimes online, sometimes in the local media – and may well coincide with the point at which the planning ...

What is meant by ‘community’ and whether ‘community’ does it have any real meaning in the twenty-first century?  The Oxford English Dictionary[i] describes ‘community’ as: ‘a body of people living in one place, district or country’, and, ‘a body of people having religion, ethnic origin, profession etc in common’. In planning, we tend to regard ...

There is no point of public consultation – unless you know what you should be consulting on Articles on consultation in planning frequently focus on the methodologies used (online versus offline) and the potential to reach wide-ranging stakeholders (the ‘hard to reach’ or ‘seldom heard’). Perhaps more importantly – or at least an important initial ...