Impact: What are the outcomes? Who benefits?
The protocol is intended to ensure communities can engage at the ‘blank sheet’ stage of a proposal, enabling them to share their priorities, knowledge, concerns and aspirations for a proposed site. This should result in more locally relevant and distinctive designs, which respond better to local needs.
For planning applicants, this can result in a faster and less confrontational process. Local authority officers should benefit from managing fewer proposals that face significant local opposition, while elected members will have clearer evidence for decision making.