Government pledges 5 million to encourage new approaches to community participation

Up to £5 million will be committed to promoting new ways to encourage community participation in planning, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has confirmed.

The new grants are part of a major Government drive to put communities in control, strengthen active citizenship and give people more say over local services.

Planning is already one of the most democratic processes with the majority of decisions taken by elected local councillors. But too often decisions become contentious because of the perceived lack of public involvement in decisions that leave under represented groups frustrated and disenchanted.

The planning empowerment grants announced today will help tackle this sense of injustice by encouraging councils to secure greater legitimacy for decisions by placing some power in the hands of local communities generating a vibrant, engaged and healthier local democracy.

Eligible councils could receive up to £70,000 additional funding from the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant to strengthen the legitimacy of their consultation and local decision making process. Also funding from the new £7.5m Empowerment Fund will go to third sector groups who promote community engagement in the planning system.

Councils should use the grants to encourage citizens to actively engage in the planning process and the development of their community through new consultation methods and better access to information. Innovative techniques to involve the community would be encouraged such as citizen's juries, charrettes or Planning for Real®.

Schemes might to involve traditionally unrepresented people or groups, such as minority groups, social tenants or those on waiting lists, in pre-application discussions, large-scale development proposals, local development master plan preparations, neighbourhood regeneration, section 106 (affordable housing) agreements and plans for decentralised or renewable energy supply.

Hazel Blears said: 'Sometimes people feel that planning decisions are made behind closed doors, or that traditional ways of getting involved, like public meetings, are not for them. These new planning empowerment grants will help involve under represented groups from the community in planning through things like citizen's juries and planning for real type processes.

A key aim of the government's planning reform agenda is to place community engagement at the heart of the planning system. Planning Aid funding has already being doubled to £3.2 million this year, to enable more people to engage with the planning system and benefit from free independent advice to help them comment on proposals.