Securing the UK Growth Mission through Community Engagement

If so, what does ‘good’ look like?

In the current climate, where Government is seeking international finance to help boost growth, communities the length and breadth of the country are seeing greater numbers of development projects come forward around them.

Embodied in the recent ‘Build, Baby, Build’ mantra, the Government’s approach is not just about a slogan, bricks and mortar, or their aspiration to build 1.5m homes over the course of this Parliament. It is central to the broader economic strategy for the country. It means increased productivity. It means inward investment. It means jobs. In other words, the UK Government sees the development of homes, infrastructure, renewables, battery storage, grid upgrades, data centres, and more, as a sure-fire way of bolstering a largely stagnant economy, and improving UK resilience and security.

However, the drive for more homes, improving ageing infrastructure, increased renewables capacity, and a strengthened energy grid, is currently not supported by a grass-roots narrative to explain why investment is critical, or why a ‘do-nothing’ option is not sustainable for our future, often resulting in conflict between communities, elected members and project promoters.

Investment is highly sought after. A scarce commodity. Competition is high between countries and regions. Place-based vision and leadership is central to success. Conflict and delay are disincentives to investment. Even the perception of attrition can stall and deter investors as they shift focus elsewhere.

Good engagement can be the key to unlocking positive, collaborative discussions between investors and the communities within which they are seeking to develop. It can lead to better designed projects and improved outcomes for local residents. Importantly, it can also often result in a smoother determination of planning applications, a prompt start on site and a clearer path to creating opportunities for local businesses as well as training and jobs.

But what does ‘good’ consultation and engagement look like? And, importantly, how can ‘good engagement’ help bring a broader range of voices into the discussion about the future of our villages, towns, cities and the infrastructure that connects and supports us?

When it comes to consultation and engagement, the Gunning Principles[1] provide the building blocks for a fair and worthwhile exercise. The Principles state:

• that consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage;
• that the proposer must give sufficient reasons for any proposal to permit of intelligent consideration and response;
• that adequate time is given for consideration and response; and
• that the product of consultation is conscientiously taken into account when finalising the decision.

These principles very much represent the bare minimum in making consultation and engagement a fair and worthwhile exercise. However, they are helpful in drawing out some broader themes of what ‘good’ engagement looks like, and how we can improve the quality, tone, and outcome of conversations with local communities and stakeholders.

Using the Gunning Principles as a launching point, below we explore a few ‘musts’ for good consultation and engagement which can be applied to projects of any scale, across any sector, or in any geography.

1. Timing is important

The point at which a project enters the public sphere is incredibly important. Whilst the desire to have well-developed plans and robust responses to potential technical queries is understandable, too often projects come forward later on in the process, well beyond the ‘formative stage’. This runs the risk of becoming an exercise in ‘information provision’, rather than genuine consultation – and it will be noted by your audience. Early and meaningful conversations, even if high-level initially, can go a long way to building trust and demonstrating a genuine commitment to listening. It also creates opportunities to show how the proposals can evolve over time, both in response to community and stakeholder feedback, and the ongoing technical work. Equally, early and sustained engagement enables communities and stakeholders to form opinions and provide feedback over a period of time, often leading to better suggestions, better design, and better outcomes for communities and developers.

 

2. Make projects accessible

Avoiding overly technical, jargon-filled explainers is essential. To be clear, this doesn’t mean providing basic information. It means understanding and communicating to the audience (potentially multiple audiences) to ensure that they can effectively engage with technical issues and your project more widely. Equally important is building understanding of an individual’s role within the engagement process; how they can shape proposals, and what tangible impacts the project will have on their day to day lives. An accessible consultation is much more likely to see responses across a range of demographics – it should be easy to hear about, understand, and share views. It shouldn’t require a level of time commitment or specific knowledge that might limit responses to those feeling particularly strongly and have the time to commit – which usually results in feedback from only a limited cross-section of the local community.

 

3. Go beyond a standard approach

Whilst there remains an important place for the tried and tested means of informing, consulting, and engaging (posted newsletters, websites, drop-in events, etc.), utilising different ways of communicating can go a long way to bringing more people into your engagement ‘tent’. Whether through the use of more visually engaging content like video or animation, developing targeted campaigns on multiple social media platforms, deploying collaborative workshops, or identifying and participating in already well-established, high footfall, community events, ‘good engagement’ means taking your project to your audience, rather than expecting them to come to you.

 

4. Transparency matters

Transparency in comms and engagement can cover many different things. However, one area which requires the greatest transparency of all is what feedback can and will be used to influence. Ensuring transparency on the scope for projects to be influenced/shaped can help to foster more constructive conversations and generate better feedback, which can lead to improved design and, ultimately, better schemes. It is equally as important to maintain transparency at the point of, and following, submission. The often utilised ‘You said, we did’ explainer of key scheme changes, and how these respond to feedback, can be a really positive way to re-engage with communities and stakeholders following the submission of an application and show that you’ve listened, considered, and sought to positively respond, to issues raised.

 

5. Don’t stop engaging at submission

Too often the submission of a planning application can spell the end of engagement. It creates a vacuum of information which can not only lead to misperceptions, but also fails to maintain any positive relationships that have been built right at the critical point in the process – when decision-makers are weighing up the merits of the scheme. More often than not planning proposals undergo numerous revisions and refinements in response to comments from statutory consultees and planning officers. Using the evolution of your proposals as the foundation for different engagement touch points ensures that useful, constructive dialogue can be maintained in the run up to a decision, can address ongoing issues or concerns (where needed), and can continue to sing the praises of the wider benefits that your project will deliver.

Ultimately, there is no one size fits all model for what good engagement looks like. It will (and should) vary depending on a wide variety of factors including the place, the project itself, and local people.

However, there is no doubt that good engagement can not only deliver better design and improved outcomes – it also offers a real opportunity to reset the relationship between communities and promoters, and ensure that we are able to fully maximise the social, economic, and environmental benefits of the UK growth mission.

Thirty4/7 Communications is a proud member of the South West Business Council. For more information on our experience delivering robust, innovative, and accessible engagement campaigns for projects across the built environment please visit our website – thirty47.co.uk.

[1] The Consultation Institute – “Implications of the Gunning Principles”. Available at – https://www.consultationinstitute.org/the-gunning-principles-implications/. [Last Accessed 06/03/26]