The Localism Act presents immense opportunities for all those who hold a stake in the development of built environment and have an interest in the promotion of good design. It also presents some challenges. The provisions in the Act entail a radical devolution of responsibilities to the local level and the empowerment of local communities to play an active role in shaping of their environment.

Reservations however have been raised that the exact terms of community engagement in the planning process remain unclear. There is a need for more transparency and clarity about what resources and structures have to be put in place in order to ensure that neighbourhood planning has optimal outcomes for local communities, developers and planners.  

As part of our Models and Partnerships for Social Prosperity workstream activity, the private roundtable will seek to clarify the terms for community engagement in neighbourhood planning and define potential models of how design support can be offered to local communities. The objective of the discussion will be to answer these questions by focusing on the four key discussion areas: 

• The question of capacity-building: How should local communities be supported in order to engage in neighbourhood planning to the best of their capacities?
• The question of skills-transfer: What models of collaboration between local communities and specialists are likely to deliver the best outcomes?
• The question of resources: What methods of funding are likely to provide the resources necessary to assure community engagement and good design?
• The question of community assets and social capital. How could the new community focused planning and management powers promote community cohesion and resilience?

This roundtable will present a substantial contribution to the debate over the Government’s pledge to ‘supporting industry to encourage innovation and creating a new offer for communities through an industry-led review, as well as hosting a Ministerial-led design summit to scope a cross-sector package of design support”, announced in the Government’s Housing Strategy of November 2011.

The event is by invitation only and will be attended by a number of senior policy experts in neighbourhood and community planning. For further details contact patricia.kaszynska@respublica.org.

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