Planning (and People) in Focus

Planning is a heady mix of people and politics which makes it , in many ways, so predictably unpredictable. At the CCP we use our unique insight into people, politics, planning and the predictable to engage communities in conversations about planning issues on their doorstep creating fewer “unpredictable” outcomes. So what does that mean in reality?

The key “predictables”

Not every member of the public is against planning. Not every local resident is a natural NIMBY. But people, in general, do have a fear of the unknown, and they do have a herd mentality, we go with the pack.

Fear of the unknown, plus herd mentality predicatables, plus a lack of accurate and transparent information about a proposed development can quickly equate to an appeal or rejection scenario as local opinion, petitions and campaigns grow.  We see that all the time, but that is by no means an inevitable outcome. It’s often because developers fail to understand natural human behaviour, and how to guide the outcome by initiating an inherent understanding of what makes people tick – and that’s where we come in.

Social Attitudes

Nearly half of the great British public support more homes being build. The most recent British Social Attitudes survey reported in 2023 that 40% of respondents said they supported more homes being built in their local area, that was an increase on the 33% who supported in 2021, but still significantly lower than in 2018 (57%). Broadly speaking though, people clearly recognise the need for more house building, even when it’s in their local area. Voters across all political parties believe that politicians can build more houses and protect the countryside (More in Common research December 2025) Fieldwork: Public attitudes toward the British countryside, housing and the future of the Green Belt, they recognise the need for housing although in this research some “Nimby type” attitudes are evident – but again, that’s entirely human and predictable.

NIMBYISM

The acronym NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) was first coined in America, but since the 1980s has been prevalent in the UK with local residents often dismissed as “Nimbys”. Sometimes, that is an accurate term for behaviour we see towards planning applications and proposals. Often, it’s a dismissive term which diminishes the role of the local resident in shaping their immediate environment and the unique knowledge of their community in terms of its identity and infrastructure needs. Dismiss local residents at your peril.

Herd mentality

The inclination among members of a group or community to follow what they perceive to be the prevailing attitudes and behaviour of the group, instead of making their own decisions and assertions is well documented and researched. This can of course be very positive for a planning proposal should the herd decide to support. However, invariably we see the default setting of “everyone must be against house building and everybody are nimbys” dictate community engagement at the early stages of planning proposals. If we move away from that setting, and follow the CCP’s mantra of empowering local communities, not dismissing residents. Engaging with them in with proactive, transparent and open dialogue – that herd mentality trait can be harnessed to create support for your proposal from across the local community, which in turn tends to lead to a greater proportion of positive outcomes.

Fear of the unknown

“An Englishman’s home is his castle” – we are acutely protective of where we live. Any possible breaching of the defenses sends our human brains into fear mode – even if you have new neighbours move in next door our thoughts run to what will they be like, will they be nice, will we get on with them. Planning proposals feed into this same emotion – totally understandable, totally beautifully human - and very predictable. Fear is an emotion, and one which can be mitigated by  reframing the unknown in a positive and less threatening light.

And once we are in that mindset that not everyone is against development and not everyone is a Nimby, but understand that people do operate in packs and they do fear the unknown. Once we work with those predicatbles, the results can be magnificent with win win all round.

Communities feel heard, they feel empowered, they provide crucial insight into the local area and its needs, and the resulting development is one which is considered, sympathetic and bespoke to the area. From the developers side this engagement can save vast sums of money – costs of appeals are not cheap. But it can often inform a development using residents’ intrinsic local knowledge so money isn’t wasted going down rabbit holes based on a one size fits all approach, or a “this is what we think this community needs” assertion.

Effective engagement helps to improve decision making, build trust, reduce planning disputes and ultimately creates better developments.

When Tony Blair declared the importance of “Education Education Education” he was specifically talking of a school setting. However, the value of education in this sector is vast. It intrinsically links into all of those key predicatables.

Case Study

One recent case study which the CCP are proud to be working on in the North of England demonstrates this point, and encapsulates the bespoke nature of what we do, based on insights and years of experience.

The site in question is the transformation of an HMO into supported living accommodation. This is accommodation for adults with very complex health needs who require round the clock care. Our approach included very early engagement with the locally elected representatives to ensure they knew about the proposals and fully understood the plans and scope – our team has members from all political parties and contacts throughout the country. Combined with, the creation of specific resource (in this case a dedicated website) to ensure that we could aid the local councillors with that critical education piece to combat the natural fear of the unknown. Early intervention and education helped to decease herd mentality. Initial feedback from residents had included inaccurate fearful projections of what the HMO was being turned into. After the website went live, and the ward councillors were able to direct people to that website, the community realised and understood what was happening, and the emotional temperature dissipated. Feedback on the website demonstrates understanding, compassion and support. And here’s another predictable – most people are very nice, they just want to live their lives and when given the information, they make informed and rational decisions. The CCP approach helps them do just that.

Shakespeare’s Polonius wisely said, “Listen to many, speak to few.” - highlighting the importance of engaging with many whilst choosing one’s words wisely – a guiding principle we use to promote successful outcomes. Engage widely in the community – proper, open, frank, honest, grown up discussion.  We can then use the experience and feedback of the many to create our range of relevant, bespoke, clear, topical, accurate communications for the community,  elected representatives and planning officials.

This is not an overnight process, there is no quick fix, but by coming to every new project with this clear concept we can nurture the process towards very successful outcomes creating a more inclusive and sustainable approach to shaping the places in which we live and work.

If you would like to chat further about how we can help you, please get in touch.