Are we hearing the whole story?

Planning consultation and community engagement are an important part of bringing forward new development, giving local people the opportunity to understand what is being proposed and have their say. But one of the challenges with any consultation is knowing whether you're hearing from the wider community or simply from the groups most likely to take part.

There is evidence to suggest that some groups are much more likely to engage in planning consultations than others. Research cited in evidence to Parliament found that 52% of people didn't know how to take part in consultations about development in their local area. Homeowners were more likely to know how to get involved than renters, at 54% compared with 39%, while there was a similar gap between over-55s and those aged 18 to 34.

That doesn't make the views of people who do respond any less important. Someone living next to a proposed development may have entirely legitimate concerns about traffic, design or pressure on local services, and those concerns need to be properly understood. The difficulty comes when the responses received are taken to represent the community as a whole.

Housing is a good example. The people with an interest in a new development aren't limited to those already living around the site. They may include people renting locally, younger people still living at home or those struggling to find somewhere suitable to live in the area. They are part of the community too, but are often less obvious when it comes to identifying who should be involved in consultation.

There isn't a single method that will reach everyone. Public exhibitions can work well for some groups, while digital engagement can help reach others, and local organisations and existing community networks can be invaluable in reaching people who might otherwise never come across a consultation. The right approach will depend on the place, the proposal and the people you are trying to reach.

Government planning guidance increasingly recognises this, encouraging those carrying out engagement to understand local demographics, consider who they need to reach and use different methods to do it.

No consultation will perfectly represent every part of a community. What matters is understanding who is taking part, recognising where there may be gaps and making a genuine effort to reach more widely. Done well, that gives developers and decision-makers a better understanding of the range of views that exist locally, rather than simply those that are easiest to hear.