Effective community engagement in local development planning: guidance

How to use this guidance

This guidance aims to support planning authorities and all users of the planning system, including communities, members of the public and others undertaking engagement activities.

It has four parts that can be read and applied individually or together. The ‘levels of engagement’ in Part 2 and Table 1 ‘Local Development Plan Preparation’ in Part 3 are quick reference guides with important information.

Part 1 - ‘The big picture’ sets the context and benefits of engagement.

Part 2 - ‘Levels of engagement’ helps us think about the purpose of engagement at each stage of making a local development plan. Each level offers different opportunities for engagement and influence.

Part 3 - ‘Local Development Plan Preparation’ covers the purpose of a local development plan, how it is made and when different levels of engagement could be used (summarised in Table 1).

Part 4 - ‘Stage by stage’ provides more detail about different levels of engagement in local development plan making. More than one level of engagement may be suitable for some stages of making a local development plan. This part also covers engagement in impact assessment.