1. The importance of planning in dealing with inclusive planning
Rachel Callaghan

2. Introduction
“In theory, planning has always supposed to give local communities a say in decisions that affect them. But in practice, communities have often found it hard to have a meaningful say. The Government wants to put power back in the hands of local residents, businesses, councils and civic leaders.”
(DCLG, 2012, Pg,3)
Active public participation is considered to be a fundamental mechanism in the pursuit of a sustainable and democratic planning process.
Through the Localism Act 2011, Neighbourhood Planning was introduced as a new and formal part of the English planning system.
Localism has somewhat empowered local communities however, the extent to which effective participation has been achieved is often debated due to it being an optional activity.
Thus, one of the biggest challenges within planning is the assurance that public engagement and participation is meaningful and truly representative of the community it affects.

3. Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation
Arnstein acknowledged that, “there are significant gradations of citizen participation” and that a spectrum of diversity is needed as, “each group encompasses a host of divergent points of view, significant cleavages, competing vested interests, and splintered subgroups.” (Arnstein,1969, Pg.217)
The current English planning model ranks somewhere within the degrees of tokenism. The “Informing” rung of the ladder is noted as “the most important step towards legitimate citizen participation” with consultation considered to be crucial in the ideal of full participation. (Arnstein, 1969, Pg. 219) However, these stages act only as “window dressing participation” if not combined with the ensuing stages .
Figure 1: Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation (Arnstein, 1969, Pg. 217)

4. Justification Effective Participation = Informed local knowledge
Empower-ment of people
Social cohesion
Civic Pride
There are four core principles that justify the need for active participation in planning as outlined in Figure 1.
In democratic societies, people have the right to participate in planning; the process involves informed local knowledge and thus leads to informative policy-making.
Participation has the ability to empower people which incentivises their involvement in decision-making that will affect them and future generations.
Planning promotes social cohesion and a reduction in the potential of community tensions through the promotion of a shared understanding and a united community front, as well as civic pride.
Figure 2: Justification of Participation, (Author’s Own)

5. Barriers to Inclusive Planning
Underrepresentation is a primary concern for facilitators and therefore careful consideration should be given to the location and timings of publicity events in regards to proposed plans so that diversity of participants is realised.
Progress, in the extent of participation achieved, tends to be prolific in rural or semi-rural communities. This may be due to the clear sense of shared priorities that small communities tend to have. Therefore it should be at the forefront of all planner’s agenda to attempt to echo these attitudes in urban neighbourhoods.
The demographic of participants has typically been associated with those of more affluent characteristics due to their increased accessibility to disposable income and time for involvement. The inclusion of a diverse demographic of all stakeholders is of significant importance and efforts should be made within the realm of engagement.

6. The importance of EQUALITY:
Many groups are underrepresented within society, including women, the younger population and those of ethnic minorities. In particular, the youth are considered to be a “significant stakeholder group” and yet they have ranked low in the considerations of community-led planning (Frank, 2006, Pg. 351)
Society is now much more pluralistic, with a notable mix of different ethnicities and nationalities, and so it is of crucial importance that minority groups are fully represented and integrated into planning processes.
The Equality Act 2010 states that local planning authorities have a responsibility to ensure that…
“people with certain protected characteristics participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.”
(Equality Act, 2010)

7. Inclusive Planning: a tool for social integration?
Inclusive planning reduces the potential of marginalisation of socially excluded populations from the decision making process.
Ultimately, exclusion threatens progress and exacerbates the limitations of planning.
Enabling a community to actively engage in planning processes incentivises social cohesion, develops community capacity and reduces isolation.
Enhancement of civic trust through effective co-operation between the community and the local authority leads to the development of better governance and increases the overall transparency of the process.
“Inclusion by design”…
“…the greater the participation of excluded groups in the design of programmes and in the political decision-making processes which impinge on their lives; the less necessary it may be to address their problems in isolation from the rest of the population.”
(Kabeer, 2006, Pg.70)

8. There are 5 key steps that can be used as a guide for planners to ensure public participation:
1. ORGANISE for participation 2. Get to KNOW your stakeholders 3. Pick an APPROPRIATE LEVEL of public participation 4. INTEGRATE public participation into the planning process 5. MATCH public participation tools to objectives THROUGHOUT the process

9. Conclusion
It is apparent that the successful integration of any plan rests on effective community engagement with an intense diversity of participants.
It is important to remember that the process of planning is both time consuming and resource intensive so it is vital that there is a placed emphasis on the focus of priorities at the community level.
Although the English planning system is an example of increased “bottom-up” planning, it is becoming increasingly democratic and enables local communities to exert more influence within their local area.
Ultimately we aim for increased “degrees of citizen power”, as illustrated in Arnstein’s ladder, where we move away from placation and toward an equal partnership between key stakeholders and local authorities.
Through the Localism Act 2011 and the introduction of Neighbourhood Planning, the statement by the Department for Communities and Local Government may well be on the way to being realised toward the achievement of a successful regime of inclusion in planning.

10. References: Department for Communities and Local Government, Neighbourhood Planning (Online)Available from: Accessed 27/10/16 Kabeer, N ‘Poverty, Social Exclusion and the MDGs: The challenge of ‘durable inequalities’ in the Asian context’. IDS Bulletin 37(3): Sherry R. Arnstein (1969): A Ladder Of Citizen Participation, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35:4, US Environmental Protection Agency, Public Participation Guide: Process Planning (Online) Available from: Accessed: 27/10/16 Image References: last accessed 27/10/