Community engagement for large scale major developments

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What you need to do

Engagement methods recommended:

  • leaflets or online engagement
  • interactive digital engagement
  • meet with Ward Councillors
  • hold an exhibition or workshop
  • hold an early engagement forum

Leaflets or online engagement

Set out the key aspects of a proposed development and tell others where they can find more information.

This can be done using:

  • written or email correspondence
  • newsletters
  • leaflets
  • website

For larger developments, an informative website, public exhibition or an engagement event could be hosted.

Interactive digital engagement

You can use an interactive website or digital engagement, such as social media platforms to provide information on your proposed development.

You’ll need to identify the key objectives of your proposal and provide a space for people to comment. This can be done using:

  • online questionnaires
  • surveys
  • comments portal or similar

Consultation should include all communities within the area of the development site.

You should aim to capture a broad geographic and demographic profile.

Meet with Ward Councillors

Meeting with a Ward Councillor will allow you to discuss your development proposal and set out any concerns that may be raised by local residents.

Developers should notify officers when a meeting has been arranged with a Ward Councillor. Officers are not required to attend meetings with ward Councillors.

The views of Ward Councillors don’t represent the council as Local Planning Authority.

Exhibitions and workshops

This could be a public event held at a venue in your development site area.

You can display visuals of the proposed development, giving the public an opportunity to comment.

Events should be advertised to the public. You can use leaflets and online engagement to do this.

Digital events

Digital events can also encourage community engagement and may help to reach a wider audience.

A webinar could be a good way to present your proposed development and allows comments to be made in a question and answer session. This also makes it easier to follow up using email, social media or by phone.

Workshops

Workshops can take place in a similar way to exhibitions. They’re a more collaborative approach to engagement than public exhibitions and consultation events.

Workshops actively encourage people to give their opinion on the proposed development.

They should be held during the earliest stages of a schemes development to make sure feedback can be included in your development.

With both exhibitions and workshops, you should consider the use of professional facilitators to help:

  • prepare the visual presentation
  • organise the format
  • lead the event
  • collect the feedback from consultees

Planning Officers should be invited to watch.

Early engagement forums

Engagement forums are more structured interactive events attended by local community stakeholders, such as resident groups or forums, business owners and Ward Councillors.

When developing schemes on a larger scale, early engagement forums should be used to present and discuss the proposed development.

Early engagement forums should be organised by a developer’s professional team and held:

  • at a venue close to the development site
  • remotely using MS Teams, Zoom or something similar

You should present the objectives and benefits that the scheme aims to deliver and shouldn’t exceed 30 minutes in time. Allow time for questions and open discussions between attendees.

Minutes should be recorded and agreed between people who attend, after the meeting.

Live recordings may help as stakeholders who were unable to attend can also watch and provide feedback.

Planning Officers should be invited to early engagement forums. They won’t comment on your proposal, they will only attend forums to view your proposal.

Feedback should be shared with the Planning Officers, for pre-application discussions. This information should also be included in a Statement of Community Involvement.

Advice for large or complex developments

If you are proposing a large or complex development, you should consider a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA).

This could get speed up your application process. Check paragraph 46 of the revised NPPF, 2021 for more detail.

A PPA is when parties come together to agree how they are going to take a development proposal through the planning process.

It allows the parties to work in a constructive, collaborative, and open manner to deliver high-quality sustainable development based on:

  • a clear vision and development objectives
  • an agreed project plan and work programme