With some social distancing necessary for months to come, we’ll need alternative approaches to public participation in the planning process. Andrew Raven of Savills Urban Design Studio looks at what’s proving successful so far
The government has been trying to balance the need for physical isolation against the need to keep construction moving around the country, although most sites have now been mothballed. We will need to be ready to move as soon as lockdown ends if we are to keep delivery rates high and make progress towards the 300,000 homes per year needed for the nation.
The pre-construction process must therefore continue, together with the accompanying consultation and review process necessary for transparency, and to refine design proposals. There are many options for this.
Design Review/Workshops
Design review is frequently part of the early process of design, particularly in large schemes where there is a phased approach with initial stages focusing on context, analysis, and strategic design principles. Design panels have adapted quickly with reviews already being conducted on applications such as Zoom, Teams and Bluejeans, and whilst there is some inevitable drop-out now and then, our experience is that participants have been able to share presentations, screens and design ideas, making these workshops very interactive ‘design tools’.
Dealing with more than six people does take some skill and needs a chair who can control inputs from participants, and the sharing of screens and information. Having two screens in your home set-up is useful for this.
Local Consultation (public/parish)
Promisingly, local consultation also continues in different forms. Where they have the technology, presentations to Parish Councils or Neighbourhood planning bodies via the internet can be made. These are reliant on good broadband, which in some rural areas is not up to scratch, but where there is good connectivity, presentations can become particularly interactive. Designers can store files ready for presenting, and respond to specific queries, sharing sketchbooks, plans and images, using pointers and sketching on photos and drawings to explain ideas.
Large-scale workshops are more difficult, and sessions that require 4 or 5 facilitators and would have involved presentations followed by design workshops for 20-200 people are a bigger challenge. There is potential for webinars, followed by some break-down sessions, and delegates carrying out their own design work to share with the design team, but we have not yet seen any live examples of this.
Virtual Exhibitions
Most planning applications would include some form of public exhibition, and these are now shifting in vast numbers to ‘virtual exhibitions’, replicating the usual community hall, with sign-in, exhibition boards, and feedback forms.
Visibility is a key issue if interested parties are to be made aware of a local proposal. These might have been advertised previously by a leaflet drop, with limited on-line targeting. Instead, the use of Facebook and local internet groups, including formal apps like Nextdoor, are good ways of driving traffic to a consultation website. Online leaflets can also be created and distributed on local civic channels, MPs’ and councillors’ personal websites and blogs.
Fully interactive websites with opportunities to ask questions, videos and presentations explaining the scheme, is something which is likely to continue post-lockdown”
Virtual exhibitions can extend to fully interactive websites with opportunities to ask questions, videos and presentations explaining the scheme, and even the potential for live chat, depending on the scale and requirements for the project. This is something which is likely to continue post-lockdown.
Committee Meetings
Government has been clear: wherever possible, decisions should continue to be made, and so many decision-making bodies are gearing up to hold virtual meetings.
New legislation was enacted last week to permit remote committee attendance, and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea was one of the first councils to hold a virtual committee using video conferencing on 9 April. Others will follow.
The use of technology is easier for some than others and may benefit from support directly from applicants. Applicants may be asked to provide additional site photographs or videos, potentially with virtual site visits where committees feel these are needed.
Confidence in debate and decision-making will only be maintained if all parties see that decisions are transparent and robust. The processes used will therefore need to be carefully documented: this is often carried out already, with many local authorities archiving videos of these processes, and with new software able to record online discussions (and even create written records).
Legal implications
Whilst new legislation is in place, there will always be the potential for legal challenge. Lawyers warn of breaches in legislation where members are not able to hear all of the debate due to poor internet connections. There may be difficulties in ensuring that councillors who need to leave the debate when they have conflicts of interest can be properly monitored to do so, and informed when to re-join. Site visits in person may also be necessary where members do not know the area well.
There will be a need to follow Common Law and take pragmatic decisions based on the best consultation possible under the current circumstances. That way, we can get the country rebuilding as quickly as possible, once we are released from lockdown.
