Researchers from the UK Collaborative on Housing Evidence have just published a literature review about public participation in the planning process in the UK. Based on the evidence, the authors also make recommendations to reform the planning process.
This review highlights the value in looking at academic work. At its best, academic research is removed from the day to day approvals process, so less likely to be influenced by the most recent plan by a developer to build yet another low quality building1.
Literature reviews also bring in research from other disciplines, and as a result shine a light on long term effects. Current planning law requires regular reviews of comprehensive plans, which articulate a long term vision for a community. Public participation in the review process is obligatory. Community agencies and advocates have pointed out that these processes privilege the voices of some residents, while excluding and discounting the experiences and views of others. Academics from other disciplines provide frameworks to understand this exclusion in the context of systemic discrimination, poverty and differences in health outcomes.
This literature review comes at a good time in England, which is busy with a “levelling up” exercise between wealthy communities in the South and East and those in the rest of the country that are struggling to pay the bills and keep the lights on. The findings will be of interest to academics in other countries that share concerns about “levelling up.” Policy makers and decision makers in England and elsewhere should consider this review for its recommendations to change public participation processes.
You can access the review at the Ulster University Research Portal: Public Participation In Planning In The UK
Footnotes
- Academic research can also “get under the hood” to identify what contributes to those bad designs. Try: Developer Wet Dream: Housing That Fails The Test Of Time
