Elmbridge’s Local Plan is currently in the final stages of consultation before a draft is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination and I would like to share my thoughts on preparing a communications strategy for this.
There is nothing more contentious in areas such as Elmbridge as planning. From extensions and tree protection through to developments of tens of homes, as well as hundreds of homes, people have views – often passionate ones. They want to protect green spaces; they want to protect character and they want to feel heard. They generally fear busier roads and further pressure on local services.
From my experience, planners are as passionate as residents about development, place-shaping and protecting character. Often, they are residents too. They work hard to ensure their proposals are acceptable to both the Planning Inspectorate and the community.
Planners can sometimes be expected to perform extraordinary feats – to regenerate an area, to alleviate stresses on roads with more cycle and walking paths, to make developments more energy-efficient, to ensure trees and parks remain as important as homes. And they want to deliver.
Working as their communications strategist, it is my role to bring out that passion and vision in the narrative around Local Plan preparation. To show the community that their feelings and opinions are being heard and to also show them the planning team always has the best interests of the area in mind, it is important to let people know we are all on the same side.
How do we tell the story of a Local Plan without crowding it with planning acronyms and legality? How do we show the vision and the passion of the planner?
As is often the solution, we tell a story – paint a picture. We don’t speak of BREEAMs, BOAs or AMRs. Instead, we speak of the park where your child can learn to climb, the high street where you can go to the gym, meet for a coffee and pick some items for dinner. We show residents how this long and detailed plan will positively impact on them and their community. We talk of homes, not units; of parks and community hubs, not conurbations and local green spaces.
It is frustrating not being listened to, when your voice gets drowned out or lost. We must demonstrate in our communications that we have listened; we know it is frustrating that the GP surgery is getting busier, the play area can be more crowded, the high street has fewer shops – remember, we can be residents, too. Then we show how the Local Plan will help to increase capacity at the GP practice, how additional play areas may be created and how the plan will encourage the evolution of the high street to a place to socialise, work, shop and finally start that art class you have always wanted to try.
A Local Plan has the potential to present a vision for an area; it can encourage enterprise, help high streets to flourish, protect cherished parks and commons and manage development in a sustainable way, helping an area to thrive. It is ultimately, all about people, and so it follows that the communication should also be people-focused.
Catherine Malloy is communications manager at Elmbridge BC
