Londoners need to be more involved in shaping the way our city is built and managed. This manifesto sets out what the next Mayor of London can do to strengthen public engagement in planning.
The top-polling mayoral candidates all agree that London needs to keep developing and building new homes. But public trust in developers and local authorities proposing new developments is very low, and too many Londoners feel that public engagement is a one-way process: done to them but not done with them.
This manifesto sets out five ways the next elected Mayor can strengthen public engagement in our planning system and get communities involved in new developments.
Key recommendations
- Demonstrate leadership and champion democracy – Publishing a draft Mayoral Statement of Community Involvement and establishing Mayoral Community Advocates who can support public involvement at every stage of the process.
- Fund and build skills – Funding a training programme for local authority officers, councillors and community champions to help them work with residents to develop and enhance local plans.
- Establish a knowledge base – Using place based audits to recognise and value the knowledge and expertise of local people in the planning process.
- Create incentives – Developing and launching an accreditation scheme for planners and developers to recognise and reward good public engagement.
- Provide scrutiny – Setting up a scorecard to help local councillors assess the quality of community engagement in planning applications and support them to make better decisions.
Involving people in planning will help us build a better city. Here’s why