COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

At the public examination of the first BCC draft of the SCI, the Civic Society and other Network members put forward the idea of a set of ground rules to apply to any type of community involvement so as to ensure that involvement is real and effective. The Planning Inspector agreed that these should be written into the SCI. We negotiated a final version with BCC and agreed that these are written into the new SCI.

When you are planning or taking part in any kind of community involvement the important thing to think of is "Are the Ground Rules being applied?". Rules 5, 6 and 9 are particularly important in making involvement effective. Here are the 10 rules, if they're applied you can't go far wrong.

If they aren't applied, ask why not and let BCC know about it! Please also report it to one of the Network working group members.

The Ground Rules

1. Inclusive invitation. Reasonable attempts should be made to ensure that a representative cross-section of the community, the promoter(s) and the City Council should be invited to the same event(s), to ensure that all participants are aware of each other’s views. Invitations should go to existing local resident associations, community forums, neighbourhood groups and interest groups where they exist or are formed as a result of the proposal. It may be necessary to hold additional events for those groups not traditionally involved in the planning process. In any event, all participants in the involvement process should be asked to put their contact details on record so as to ensure that they receive feedback on the results of involvement.

2. Authorisation. Those representing community groups, the promoter(s), and the City Council should be able to show that they are authorised to speak for their organisations. The scale and remit of those organisations should also be made clear.

3. Continuity. Involvement should be a continuous process with the timetable for the period of preparing the plan or making the planning application made clear in advance to the participants. Where involvement is intended to include a series of meetings or events then, as far as possible, the same individuals that represent the community, the promoter and the City Council should continue to be involved throughout the process to ensure continuity of views. Nevertheless, it may be appropriate for other participants or advisers to be involved intermittently. However the process should not be re-run if or when representatives change.

4. Independent advice. Where technical or professional advisers or private consultants are employed as independent facilitators to manage the involvement process, they should have a client duty of care to all parties equally and should be instructed to follow these ground rules, irrespective of the party employing them. Where facilitators or advisers are not independent this should be declared.

5. Front loading. Arrangements should be made for the meetings process to begin and for all parties to meet at the early “ideas” stage of the plan or the development preparation process. This is before specific proposals are made, when significant options are still open and can be identified and while there is still the potential to make a difference.

6. Presenting options. The aim should be to set out options or choices that are possible in the way that specific development is carried out, including those suggested by the community that reflect the community’s needs, ambitions and experience. Purely oral or written presentations should be avoided so that, wherever possible, options are illustrated in 3 dimensional terms with models and examples of sustainable development best practice in comparable schemes elsewhere (see for example “Towards Good Practice in Sustainable Urban Land Use ”ODPM 2004). In generating options the constraints of already adopted national, regional and city planning policy should be made clear as well as the opportunities still open to choice. It may not be possible to include in options issues that are commercially confidential.

7. Choosing between options. The planning criteria for choosing between options should be made clear and transparent, identifying where a distinction has been made between choices based upon technical and legal argument and choices based purely on opinion.

8. Consensus. Best endeavours should be made to reach consensus making it clear and specific how far the involvement has resulted in agreement to adopt or to alter proposals. Where agreement has not been possible, the reasons and the scale of disagreement should be made clear and specific.

9. Transparent records. Community involvement meetings should be summarised in a Community Involvement Statement, which will be submitted to the City Council as a supporting document. Community Involvement Statements will be provided by the applicant to support relevant planning applications submitted for determination. A Community Involvement statement will also be prepared and submitted with Local Development Documents for determination. An opportunity will be given to participants of community involvement meetings to verify Community Involvement Statements before they are submitted to the Council. Participants may provide a written statement of omissions and corrections which will be reported and considered by the council along with the Community Involvement Statement.

10. Feedback on the outcome of community involvement. Those who have supplied their details will be notified of the availability of a report to show, with reasons, how far the recommendation or determination of planning applications or the approval of Local Development Documents has reflected the opinions given by the community and the weight given to them. For planning applications this will be either the case officers delegated decision report, or the Development Control Area Committee report and minutes. For Local Development Plan Documents this will be the Community Involvement Statement as required by the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004. Neighbourhood Planning Groups are expected to share the outcome of community involvement with their membership by, for example, their community newsletters.