Facilitating community engagement in Local Development Plan consultations

Widening demographic citizen participation in public consultations.

Led by the Welsh School of Architecture and School of Geography and Planning, this project applied recommendations from the project team’s research on inclusive community engagement in Local Development Plans (LDP).

Formalising a network of public and third sector organisations established through Community Consultation for Quality of Life and A Grangetown to Grow Up In, the project partnered with Cardiff Council's Planning and Local Development Plan teams to create a community engagement advisory network to act as a critical friend on inclusivity in consultations.

Community-led engagement

The funding facilitated workshops to co-create community-designed and community-led 'engagement actions' in Ely/Caerau, Grangetown, Splott and St Mellons with an aim of raising awareness of the LDP to widen demographic citizen participation in the consultations.

This project collaborated with Action in Ely and Caerau, Grange Pavilion – a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), Grange Pavilion Youth Forum, Splott Community Volunteers, Common Wealth, and Planning Aid Wales to co-design a range of accessible and inclusive means of engaging people in the Local Development Plan to inform planning policies that reflect the diversity of Cardiff’s communities and citizens.

Next steps

Cardiff Council and the partnering community organisations are exploring the next steps of aligning this research to current and emerging Council strategies in regeneration and placemaking.

This collaborative approach has the potential for transferability across other local authorities and could be recognised as global best practice by demonstrating collaborative ownership of development decisions.

Read the full report for Community engagement in local development plans