People have rights which developers ignore at their peril

May 7 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

WE have all heard the saying, ‘If you haven’t got anything nice to say, then don’t say anything’. However, if people have negative comments about a proposed development, you can be sure they will say something.

The Saint Consulting Group recently published the results of its annual survey on the public’s attitude towards property development. It makes interesting yet sober reading.

It found people are taking an increasingly hard line against development compared with previous years. They are more likely to object to a planning application. One in four householders surveyed said they had opposed a scheme in the previous 12 months.

The findings confirmed the growing Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) attitude towards many forms of development.

A casino is the least favoured proposal, but homes are now less popular than before. This last point is of concern, bearing in mind the Prime Minister’s commitment to boost house building. Quite rightly, people should be able to comment on developments which affect them, and developers ignore this at their peril.

Imagine a developer who wants to demolish a suburban house with a large garden so he can build a nursing home on the site.

The proposal is unpopular and local people form a group to fight the proposals. There are appeals to the councillors. A website to co-ordinate the fight is set up. A petition against the development has 1,000 signatures. The council planning department is besieged with hundreds of objection letters. Then the local media become involved …

If there are going to be contentious issues associated with a development, it is far better to try to address them before you submit the application. Discussion is vital.

It may seem a contradiction, but consultation can be the least talked-about topic.

For example, the new standardised planning application form now asks whether there has been any consultation – even for simple household extensions.

And there’s one more finding from the survey: fewer than one in 10 of the public believes consultation has a positive effect.

Yet, used properly, consultation is an effective way of involving people in the democratic process of planning.

Peter McEvoy is a planner at Ward Hadaway law firm in Newcastle.