An Explanation of Non-Participation in Planning

Abstract

One of the crucial tests of the policy of public participation called for in the 1968 Planning Act is whether it can work in areas which do not demand a say in planning. There is a danger that these areas could be jostled even further away from resources and consideration as the more vocal areas which have always demanded attention take full advantage of their rights under the new system. The citizen’s statutory right to information and consultation means litde if he doubts that his involvement can have any impact on planning, and if the local authority feel they have nothing to gain from hearing his views. Although the 1968 Act required that the public should be informed and consulted in some way, it also gave local authorities greater power. First, it left the evolution of the means of consultation to the local authority. Second, it made planning a staged process which could be used to render the public quite impotent. In place of the old detailed development plan only the skeletal structure plan is now subject to public enquiry and ministerial approval, but at this stage the plan is insufficiently detailed for potential objectors to know how their interests are affected.