Building momentum and credibility in your planning objections to unsustainable developments

Far too often in planning debates there is a one way consideration of something's usefulness or viability, often forgetting that communities have a deep rooted spiritual attachment to things they hold dear.?

Planning applications are as much about the impact to the people in the place, as they are about the physical changes to the place itself. It's often when this is overlooked that developers' and communities' relationships drift apart more than is natural.?

For developers to win more hard earned planning consents, it is often dependent on them demonstrating to communities that they really do grasp people's attachment to a place and are going to help protect their special qualities.?

Kershaw Town and Country Planning Services Limited really enjoy trying to help bring stakeholders together to avoid planning appeals through early and effective engagement where schemes have a better chance of widespread backing.?

Schemes with more widespread backing tend to be truly sustainable schemes in the real sense of the word, rather than those schemes which are appeal wins but which remain largely unsupported by local communities, stakeholders and future customers.?

Whilst sending out a consultant team to door knock to drum up support for a major planning application can have its place in a developer's tool kit (where support has been lower than would have been hoped for), it can sometimes be a very costly experience - in terms of consultants' supporter mobilisation target fees; and also in terms of the risks to reputation of such a late approach from a team communicating indirectly on your behalf at the coal face of engagement.?

More transparent approaches with communities, business leaders and other well researched stakeholders, at the very outset of when you are working up a development scheme, usually builds more coherent, impactful and sustainable support - not just for your current scheme, but also for your reputation there and elsewhere in the future.?

Planning communications needs to be well considered:?

The language and narrative used in Planning Statements and Design and Access Statements for major developments are hugely important in setting the right tone with stakeholders and communities.?

I once saw an applicant describe their major development on the edge of a village as?'helping to create a much improved and much needed new approach to help tidy up the village entrance'.?

The problem was that such language can be quite antagonistic to people who live in that part of the village and to the majority of people who valued the historic houses which formed the approach.?

It was part of their identity and undermined other stakeholder engagement efforts as it showed a lack of developer awareness of the village and the views of stakeholders.?

These are serious considerations and they are the types of issues that Kershaw Town and Country Planning Services Limited really enjoy helping stakeholders work through.?

Major planning applications are built on trust:?

Someone once asked me for some insight as to 'what's really behind whether a major planning application is successful or not'?

... and we all have our different views on this?

... but for me I said that in the bigger picture, the key theme is definitely?'trust'.?

If you are an applicant...Do the planners trust your aims and motivations for the area? Does the Parish Council trust what you are saying? And does the community have confidence in your integrity??

If you are a?Parish Council, disgruntled resident or organised community interest campaign group...Is the way you are going about your objecting making planners and councillors view your arguments as more or less credible? How are you perceived by others in the community who also have a voice??

There is no doubt that reputation matters in all aspects of planning.?

It's why when people study spatial planning that it is listed as 'a complex social science'.?

But how many applicants and objectors really focus on the true importance of reputation management and engagement early enough in the process ... and consistently enough to be credible??

And how many applicants and objectors consider whether their approach and reputation on one application, can have a lasting effect on undermining their arguments in later applications, here and elsewhere, given the wide media focus on planning??

These are serious considerations and they are the types of issues that Kershaw Town and Country Planning Services Limited really enjoy helping stakeholders work through.?

Inclusive consultation should persuade:?

It is often counter-productive for developers to sometimes assume that vocal objectors to major planning proposals are unreasonable or irrational beings who are unworthy of engaging with in the planning process - and who are so often side-stepped by some developers' consultants in favour of spending time locating and mobilising supporters for a scheme.?

Some of the greatest advocates of schemes are actually usually those who have been persuaded of the merits of a scheme, and persuaded of the integrity of the developers, through proper engagement at an early stage when a scheme can still meaningfully be influenced (often at pre-planning application stage)?

Schemes and developers which win over the respect of objectors and local stakeholders in this way are usually schemes and developers which stand the best chance of having truly sustainable reputations with future purchasers and decision makers?

Committee speeches should connect:?

Planning committee speeches can be a tense experience for objectors of major planning applications ... and for applicants - with both sides keen to put forward the most effective arguments to decision makers.?

Nerves on the night can often undermine the last chance you have to influence an undecided panel - and sometimes weaving an element of humour into your deliberations can actually be one of the most effective ways to increase the credibility of an argument (if the sentiments ring true with decision makers and others in the audience).?

The key is often understanding the audience and understanding the panel -?which usually comes from open, early and ongoing engagement with stakeholders from the very outset of a development proposal.?

Engagement should not alienate:?

Planning proposals should always work with local communities, rather than being imposed on them.??

Engaging with local communities should always be seen as an essential process for developers to help maximise their schemes and reduce problems for them later down the line.??

A prime example of this came a few?years ago when I spoke to a local resident in Marlborough one weekend when visiting the town.??

Upon on discovering that I was a Planner by profession, the gentleman was enthused to start a conversation with me that has stayed with me ever since.??

He looked me in the eye and said to me very sincerely that,??

"I objected to a planning application a few years back on 7 material planning grounds.?Why? … Because I was so incensed that the developer knocked on my neighbour's door to explain the scheme, but failed to knock on mine even though the proposal affected me more.?If truth be told, had they knocked on my door and had the courtesy to explain to me the need for the development, then I probably would have written in to support the scheme and use my local knowledge of the site to suggest a few improvements to the scheme which would have benefited them. I certainly would not have objected and persuaded many others to object."?

Objectors should unite:?

Unlike applicants and land owners and promoters, one of the big disadvantages for those seeking to oppose or seek improvements to a planning application or proposed Neighbourhood or Local Plan allocation, is that they often object in isolation to their fellow objectors.?

There is often no coordination of objections, no technical expertise commissioned to challenge technical documents submitted and no stakeholder or media engagement.?

Sometimes they even miss the boat completely by being unaware of consultation dates for various reasons.?

As a result, impassioned objectors (very sadly for the areas they are trying to protect from unsustainable development), often lack credibility or momentum with decision makers.?

Far from being NIMBYs, unreasonable or stubborn, residents often act with a deep sense of responsibility when they try to oppose or seek improvements to inappropriate planning applications or Neighbourhood or Local Plan proposed allocations.?

They do so to try and prevent current and future generations' enjoyment of their areas being blighted by inappropriate and unsustainable proposed developments.?

In the end, the Parish Councils and residents groups who are most successful in thwarting inappropriate developments are usually those who take a strategic approach to objecting in order to robustly counter the unfair NIMBY undertones which often tend to purposefully weaken their campaigns.?

As we move ahead into 2023 and beyond, if any of your residents wish to understand the costs involved in getting professional assistance in helping them formulate and coordinate their most effective material objections, please feel free for you or them to send me an email anytime to:?

[email protected]?

Or message me here on LinkedIn.?

When residents group together to share the costs of professional planning advice, it can usually be an extremely frugal way of coordinating effective objections.?

KERSHAW TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING SERVICES LIMITED are passionate about supporting residents, campaign groups and Parish Councils with valid concerns about inappropriate proposed developments.?