What should developers and planning consultants take away from the situation at Guildford Borough Council?

 

Following last May’s local elections, the Skyline Comms team were asked to present our analysis to a number of property developers and planning consultants operating across the country, particularly in the south east and east of England.

In a previous article, we looked at the controversy surrounding South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan, which was agreed in March.

With that in mind, Guildford Borough Council have had their own Local Plan controversies, and in this article we will highlight the key things that developers and planning consultants should take away from the situation in Guildford.

Developers and planning consultants need to understand, and stay up-to-date with, the local issues.

1. The run-up to, and the immediate aftermath of, the local elections:

Just a week before the last local elections, in May 2019, the then Conservative-led Council adopted the borough’s Local Plan at an extraordinary meeting.

A week later, the Conservatives suffered one their worst performances since the borough was created in 1972, and lost 22 of their 31 councillors.

It was no coincidence that the Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) candidates, who were standing on an anti-Local Plan manifesto, unseated 12 Conservatives and ended up with 15 seats.

While the overall picture across the country seemed to point towards Brexit being a huge issue at the time, the controversial Local Plan had a major factor, as we found in our research and with our experiences both in advance of and following, the elections.

By understanding the underlying issues in the area, we can seek to advise on the best possible engagement strategy.

2. The local campaigns continued even after the elections:

Since the local elections, there have been three separate applications for a judicial review, Guildford Borough Council’s coalition have involved additional legal advice, and in December those three High Court challenges were dismissed.

While this means that the Local Plan is still binding it is likely that local campaigners from the Wisley Action Group (WAG) and Ockham Parish Council, who submitted two of the three challenges, will be keenly watching any planning applications which are submitted.

Understanding the status of previous and upcoming local campaigns is an essential part of community engagement, especially in advance of submitting planning applications. The more information that developers and planning consultants can gather at this early stage, the easier the engagement is throughout the application process.

Developers and planning consultants need to carry out engagement as early as possible, and continue engaging In the aftermath of the 2019 elections, a coalition was formed between the Lib Dem and R4GV councillors, with Liberal Democrat councillor Caroline Reeves being elected leader.

Just a year later though, and Cllr Reeve has announced that she will be stepping down by September following an agreement to “rotate” the leadership of the Council. There have also been changes to the Council’s Executive, with Cllr Reeves now leading on Housing and Development.

This further highlights the importance of both early, and continuous, engagement with local representatives.

In the case of Guildford Borough Council, for example, it is now uncertain how long portfolio holders (and indeed the leadership) will be in office. Engaging early will allow you to understand their longer-term strategies though, and continuous engagement will help build that long term relationship with a good number of those within the authority.

Even in authorities with a low turnover in portfolio holders, continuous engagement is still important as you never know who the next cabinet member may be.

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 07958 389713.