Consultation solutions at heart of long term development

In the past, many developers thought of consultation as, at best, a nuisance or at worst, an expensive nuisance. However, good consultation, properly, openly and fairly conducted, offers a real opportunity. By engaging early and intensively with communities and their representatives, developers can gain planning permissions more quickly. But how do you get it right?

A well-timed plan is essential
Consultation is all about gathering views, listening to them and responding, where possible. It needs to be early enough for the views expressed to be taken into account. It is equally important that this is seen to be so – lending legitimacy to the process.

The consultation process must take into account the requirements of the local community. It is a good idea to seek the views of key local representatives on the best format for the consultation process before embarking on a strategy that may not fit with local needs. For example, a prefabricated exhibition in a hotel suite remote from the heart of the community will not work. If it is open at the wrong times, on the wrong weekend, then it will be disregarded. If the consultation is not seen to be fair – it is not fair.

Bring the movers and shakers on board
As with the timing, the people to be involved are a vital part of gaining the true views of a community. Clear, structured research should be undertaken upfront to understand the local community, their issues and the key representatives and stakeholders.

Identify the community and political leaders and opinion formers and involve them in commenting on the consultation strategy, to ensure it is appropriate for the local situation.

You should not be afraid of broadening consultation beyond your original boundaries, as the wider the range of local views gathered, the greater your ability to judge how widely held individual views are and therefore which views hold most weight.

Case study: Leisure and hotel development
In addition to involving the local community, consultation was also undertaken with groups who would have specific interests in the proposals. These included people interested in the jobs which would be created, groups likely to use the leisure facilities and business representatives concerned with the need for a new hotel in the area – all potential champions of the development.

Location, location, location
Many consultation strategies fail to gain balanced opinions and local acceptance because they rely too heavily on the public making the effort to get involved, resulting in just the ‘usual suspects’ taking part. Good, or even great, consultation takes the process to the people.

Not only does this demonstrate openness and a desire to involve the widest possible breadth of citizens, it also broadens awareness, gains a greater range of views, increases validity of the process and reduces scepticism. Some methods for engaging each audience are…

Exhibitions
An exhibition is a very valuable way of taking developed draft plans to the wider public and receiving detailed, considered responses. The format allows members of the public to view plans for a development in a controlled environment and put questions to the project team.

Workshops
Workshops work best earlier in the planning stage than exhibitions and offer a real opportunity to influence the progress of a project. They facilitate the in-depth discussion of issues based on plans and other visual materials, and can generate community-led, creative solutions.

We have, on many occasions, used workshops as a way of engaging young people. People under the age of 25 are far less likely to engage in development proposals than their seniors. By proactively engaging them in a workshops forum through colleges, schools and youth groups we gain valuable input from this age group with a very different perspective to nimbys who claim to speak for the community.

Community or neighbourhood forums
These are a way of bringing together people with a wide range of views about a developer’s proposals and gain consent on the best way forward. Opposition often arises from misunderstandings or a lack of trust. Placing an opponent in the same forum as another local stakeholder with a constructive approach is often an effective means of achieving a community consensus that backs development proposals.

Opinion research campaigns
This is a more quantitative method of researching the views of the public towards a proposal. It is particularly useful in gauging the level of support within a community to a development, or if a large project requires a very wide area to be consulted.

E-consultation
This is fast becoming an important way of engaging a community and is no longer just an ‘add-on’. An informative and engaging website enabling the ‘time-poor’ to participate in consultation helps to widen local engagement beyond the ‘usual suspects’.

Case study: Major regeneration scheme in east London
Over six months of consultation, three large exhibitions were held. The first was held on the site. Although this had a good turnout, it was not as large as could be expected for proposals of this scale. The site itself was separated from the main urban centre. Therefore, the second and third exhibitions were held in a venue on the main high street of the town. This resulted in over five times the number of attendees, including many people coming straight in off the street having known nothing about the plans or the exhibition. It also resulted in a very wide range of opinions and ideas expressed in feedback.

The consultation programme enabled the project team to learn of the local community’s aspirations for the site and what they felt they could ‘get out of it’. As a result of this feedback changes were made to the plans which created amenities to be enjoyed by people living outside the site as well as new residents in the new development. In this way, the consultation helped to gain greater local legitimacy for the developer’s proposals resulting in a unanimous approval at planning committee.

Feedback is essential
It is always important to let people know how their input has been fed into the proposals. Most reasonable people expect to be listened to regardless of whether their views result in any action. They understand that not all opinions can be included.

To sum up, the pressure for development in London and the South East is resulting in increasing concern within communities about the changes taking place in their area. The solution is to inform communities of development proposals at an early stage and to take them with you throughout the planning process. Most people appreciate their views being sought and will be prepared to engage constructively. Harnessing the engagement of local people in this way produces benefits for everyone – empowering residents over the future shape of their community, minimising pressure on local politicians and speedier planning permissions for developers.

For more information:
Contact Gabriel Abulafia, Director at Green Issues Communications by emaill: post@greenissues.com or
visit greenissues.com for regional telephone numbers