De lingua agitur… (How to get people on board and your planning consent)
Friends, developers, planners - lend me your years! For what I am about to say, is really important. When you tell people about your plans for a development, whether it is a single story side extension, 1,000 homes on the Green Belt, a strategic land promotion, commercial development, logistics centre, solar farm (or anything else that needs planning permission) you need to think about the language you use to convey your ambitions.
So, a quick Q&A on this:
Who is your audience you are talking to?
If you are talking to the professional planners your language is different from when you are talking to the public or Councillors (who may make the decision at planning committee). Stop. Think about that… If you are aiming your message at the public, imagine you are trying to explain this to your great aunty Hilda who knows nothing about planning. If you are talking to Cllr Jones-Smith you need to think about how you are responding to their interest as a politician.
The pitfall here is if you think that everyone has the knowledge of the professional planners… and the reality is that planners are great experts who write very clever technical reports for the edification of other great experts – but it leaved the ordinary person more befuddled than before.
What are you saying to them?
You need to understand human nature… since the stone age humans have been trading with one another. It is part of our DNA. If you want something from someone, you need to offer them something in return that they want (NO, I am not suggesting you bribe them!). If people are going to take the “pain” of development, they also need to be part of the “gain” and simply saying: “The nasty old Labour Government says we need to do this and the NPPF is on our side” won’t wash (and if you are one of those developers, please STOP you are giving everyone else a bad name). Find out what the communities are concerned about, address their concerns. Find out what they need, try and province it.
Tell them the good news!
If you don’t tell people about the positives of your plans, no one else will… in fact, quite the contrary! If you DON’T tell people the good news, someone else will turn it into bad news and set a negative agenda.
But why does this matter?
It matters because if you get tis wrong the public turns against you and they then lobby their Councillors who are the decision makers and quite rightly, are elected to represent the views of their voters (it’s called democracy!) and that, dear friends, developers and planners is where it all goes hideously wrong and you get refused at planning committee!
Call me and we can turn it into veni vidi vici!
Henry
07736121014