Surveyors lead call for community involvement in planning

A property industry report has called on professionals to actively engage with community organisations as neighbourhood planning takes shape with the government’s Localism Bill.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Land and Society Commission said evidence it gathered “highlighted the need for greater cooperation between developers and communities, with a view to dismissing preconceptions that community involvement can hinder private sector investment”.

It said that if developers consulted communities before initiating proposals, they could create projects that were more sustainable and with a higher specification. The commission called for local authority planning officers to “move away from the town hall and into their local communities”.

It explained: “Through working with local people on a regular basis, they will find it easier to make informed decisions which are of long-term benefit to the community and local business.”

Property business should engage with community groups and social housing providers to encourage large scale community-led housing programmes “that would enable volume lending to the sector”.

The commission said developers and planners should not fear greater community involvement but instead see it as something that could speed up the planning and construction process, reduce risk, and add considerable commercial value.

The full report can be seen here: http://www.rics.org/site/download_feed.aspx?fileID=9658&fileExtension=PDF