A recent report suggests that community organisations and residents are being left out of local planning decisions.

Local voluntary sector group Urban Forum has completed a report that indicates that local communities are struggling to get involved in decisions about their local built environment for a variety of reasons.

The survey found that only 45% of people who wanted to get involved in the planning system had been involved in the Local Development Framework that decides how an area will develop. 67% of the remaining 55% who had not been involved did not actually know what an LDF was.

According to the report, community groups seem to generally get involved in the planning system, mainly by opposing planning applications, at a late stage when many of the decisions have already been made.

Those who claimed they had not been involved in the planning system blamed this on “ineffective local authority consultation, with a lack of information on how to get involved” and “funding and proper consultation methods.”

The report has indicated that local authorities should try harder to engage local people earlier in the planning process to ensure facilities and services meet their needs.

Urban Forum research policy officer Elin Gudnagottir said: We need to identify the gaps in each local area and then determine what mechanisms are needed to improve it. Our survey found that, without proper engagement, people feel distanced from the community."

http://www.regen.net/bulletins/Communities-Bulletin/News/928516/Local-bodies-planning-role-limited/?DCMP=EMC-Communities%20Bulletin