Since the beginning of the lockdown at the end of March, the planning sector (including within local authorities) has been forced to adapt.
As we start to see a lifting of restrictions, and as the property sector starts to move back to a level of normality, the Skyline Comms team has been undertaking in-depth research on behalf of our clients.
We have specifically been looking at the reactions local authorities have had, and are continuing to have, as we move to the next stage of the response to the pandemic- and social distancing rules come into place.
After looking at around 30 local authorities, covering huge areas of the country, we have identified three categories that local authorities fall into when it comes to their response to the lockdown and the aftermath.
In this article, we are going to highlight those three categories, and provide some advice for how developers and planning consultants should be approaching them.
1.Authorities that are maintaining public speaking protocols at planning meetings:
There are a good number of local authorities that have maintained public speaking protocols. For example, East Cambridgeshire District Council was one of the first in the Eastern Region to hold a planning committee that was shared via live stream on YouTube, and maintained speaking opportunities for residents and other members of the public.
Looking at cases like this, our key piece of advice is to continue to engage using your previous strategy (if you have one), but obviously take into account the fact that councillors and others will still be very busy even while most work from home.
With regard to your community engagement strategies, we would recommend thinking about you could be engaging online where possible, which is something we have briefly covered in a previous article.
2. Authorities that are allowing the public to observe but not speak at planning meetings:
Our research has highlighted that there are a number of authorities who, while implementing online tools to hold planning meetings, are not allowing the public to speak.
This can present significant issues for proposed developments though, because if there were to be a number of objections to any development, a committee could still approve the proposal without hearing those objections in the usual way.
In the longer term that could provide negative publicity for the development, and the associated firms.
That is why we always propose a well thought out community engagement strategy in advance of submission.
On the other side of the coin, if an application is rejected at a committee meeting with no public involvement, the ability to speak positively about the proposals is removed. In this case, a well-organised strategy for engagement on a political level is vital.
3. Authorities that are conducting planning meetings behind closed doors:
The third category is that some authorities, for a time, were conducting delegated decision-making powers to officers.
This approach presented similar issues to that of authorities that are only allowing the public to observe meetings.
However the authorities that we were aware of taking this approach have now switched to virtual meetings.
It is also clear that many authorities were slow off the mark, which will likely cause a lag in the planning process.
It is therefore important that, now maybe more so, property developers and planning consultants have a bespoke strategy for engaging with different local authorities.
Skyline Comms offers political insights at a local and national level, as well as political and community engagement to support applications through the planning process.
To find out how we could support your political and community campaigns during this challenging time, please email our Managing Director James Hockney on j.hockney@skylinecomms.com or call 0208-7983730 / 07958 389713.