Effective community engagement in local development planning guidance: consultation

The scope of the guidance is clear, and West Dunbartonshire Council welcomes that links to complementary guidance are to be included.
Although, referring to Planning Advice Note 3/2010 is not very helpful, given it refers to an outdated plan preparation process and outdated version of the National Standards, which could cause confusion. We suggest that the guidance refers to the Local Development Planning Guidance and the current National Standards instead. Other links, such as to Our Place website, and links to resources for engaging specific groups are also helpful.

The “Offer to participants” at different levels of engagement do overlap making it difficult to distinguish the practical difference between the levels in some cases. In particular the offer to participants at the “Involve” and “Collaborate” levels appear to be very similar. “Consult” and “Involve” also have some degree of overlap.

It would be helpful if there was better differentiation between these levels of engagement. Links to good practice case studies providing examples of each level of engagement may be helpful.

There is some concern about the definition of the term “empower”, which applies to the preparation of Local Place Plans. The offer to participants of “we will implement what you decide” potentially sets unrealistic expectations for communities and introduces the possibility of conflict during the plan preparation process. As Local Place Plans are expected to be prepared for inclusion in the published Evidence Report it is unclear how a Planning Authority or community should proceed where there is conflict between Local Place Plans and other evidence. The guidance should recognise this possibility, which could in part be helped by reference to existing guidance on alternative forms of conflict resolution, such as Planning Circular 2/2021 on the use of mediation in planning.

Generally the levels of participation seem appropriate to each step and the level of detail provided is helpful, with the exception of the section on modifying plans, which appears to contradict legislation.

Under the “Modifying the Proposed Local Development Plan and Examination” section, in the first paragraph on page 26, the guidance states that the planning authority “may” seek an examination where representations cannot be resolved by modification to the plan. However section 19 (1) and (2) of the Town and Country Planning act states a local authority “are” to request an examination where there are unresolved issues. The guidance makes this appear optional where the legislation does not. The final version of the guidance should be amended to reflect the legislation.

West Dunbartonshire Council would highlight the resource challenge that the expected levels of engagement presents, and would suggest the final guidance makes reference to the engagement undertaken being proportionate.

It would also be helpful if there was more links to guidance on how to engage with the many different groups required by the Planning Act 2019. This may include guidance on the broad types of engagement that are expected e.g. where in-person engagement might be more appropriate than electronic engagement, and vice versa.

It would be useful to also include the levels of engagement expected on a Human Rights Impact Assessment and Health Inequalities Impact Assessments, which are not included in the lists in paragraphs 6.11 and 10.3 but are mentioned elsewhere in the consultation document.

West Dunbartonshire Council recognise the value of the impact assessments, but would also highlight the challenge in preparing them, particularly given the current lack of resources in local authorities.

The assessments also potentially complicate the process for communities. It would be helpful if the guidance could advise (or link to other advice) on how to better integrate engagement on impact assessments with the Development Plan engagement, to avoid consultation fatigue. Engaging with the local planning process can be demanding, especially for the hard to reach groups that the impact assessments are designed to benefit. Advice on good practice to reduce the demand on communities engaging with the process would be helpful.

The structure and level of detail within the guidance is helpful, with some additional clarity needed, as set out in our answers to other questions.

The guidance makes specific reference to protected characteristics and how people with protected characteristics should be involved in development planning, and impact assessments, which is positive.

One of the principles of the guidance is that it will support opportunities to avoid or reduce consultation fatigue by linking to other processes.
West Dunbartonshire Council does not believe the guidance succeeds in this regard. This is highlighted in our answer to question 4 on impact assessments, but the issue also extends to other pieces of work Local Development Plans rely on as part of their evidence base, listed in table S2. Additional guidance on the engagement processes for these strategies could compliment overall engagement on the Local Development Plan.