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Blears boosts Planning Aid giving everyone the right to be heard

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT News Release (130) issued by The Government News Network on 2 June 2008

COMMUNITIES SECRETARY HAZEL BLEARS has announced a major expansion of Planning Aid today to ensure that people have the advice, skills and professional support they need to have a proper voice in the planning process.

Planning Aid works with community groups to develop their understanding of the planning system so that they can communicate their views more effectively. And it helps individuals who are unable to afford a planning consultant and who, without assistance, would be excluded from the planning process.

Following the doubling of Planning Aid funding from £1.7m in 2007/08 to £3.2m this year the new announcement today will increase this further to £4.1m in 2009/10 and £4.5m in 2010/11. That means the number of people directly helped will rise from around 25,000 this year to even more in future.

Hazel Blears said:

"The Planning Reform Bill currently going through Parliament will give people a fairer say through public consultation, and at planning inquiries. But creating opportunities for public participation is not enough by itself.

"We need also to do more to support local communities and individuals, particularly those least able to put forward their case, with the advice and skills they need to engage effectively, which is where this new funding will provide direct help."

Planning Aid is already helping people to influence the planning system for example a group of traders in East London wanted to fight an application to replace their market with a superstore. After a training workshop, the traders were able to present a viable alternative to the plans which is now being developed.

Free advice is available to all callers and more detailed help to eligible individuals and groups. It specifically helps those on benefits, pensioners, or people whose household income is low, and also provides planning advice to small charities, voluntary and community groups, tenants' organisations, social enterprises and other not-for-profit businesses.

The full range of planning issues are covered ranging from planning applications, through local authority planning policies, to regional spatial strategies and national consultations.

Notes to Editors

Case Studies

1. East Midlands: Planning Aid helped to engage people from hard to reach groups in a Regional Spatial Strategy through an innovative project commissioned by the East Midlands Regional Assembly. The Public Participation Support Service was developed to raise awareness and understanding of the planning system amongst hard to reach groups and to assist them in making representations in the two consultation periods of the review process. The project marks a great step forward in regional planning consultation and demonstrates a real interest in the plan making system by traditionally hard to reach groups.

2. Lockeleaze Voice: South West Planning Aid is supporting the emergence and operation of a neighbourhood planning group, "Lockleaze Voice" in the Lockleaze area of Bristol. The group provides a conduit through which the community may communicate and influence the authorities and developers who are promoting development in the local area, and the authorities and developers may communicate with the local community. The group meets monthly. South West Planning Aid is supporting the work of the group especially in its early stages of development. The project will allow funding for basic publicity and room hire for the meetings of this group. The group are supported by Staff funded through the core grant.

3. Mackenzie Way - Our Way (Marling Cross - Singlewell): South East Planning Aid have held four community planning events with the community and representative organisations from Marling Cross, Gravesend to find out their views on how they would like their local area to be improved. The results of these events have been taken into account in a report that has been completed and submitted to the project steering group and local councillors. The report has then been fed back to all people previously involved with the project. The funder is now to appoint a landscape architect to produce a detailed design for the area based on the findings of the report.

4. Newcastle Community Empowerment: Planning Aid North has developed a new project with Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council. The project will help to empower communities to have a greater say in the future of their neighbourhoods. Planning Aid North will provide awareness, learning and support services to identified priority areas and build on its previous work in the East and West Ends of the city.

5. North Tyneside Education Support - Area Action Plans: Planning Aid North has also been providing support to young people in North Tyneside to help them contribute to the Action Area Plans for North Shields and Wallsend. This has involved working with students in 2 colleges in the area through specially designed schemes of work. Students will be encouraged to share their views with stakeholders and these will be included in the final report to the local authority.

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