You’ve found the site. You’ve appointed the architect. You’ve spent months refining the scheme, running the numbers and working your way through the planning process.
And then you assume everyone else will see what you see.
That’s where things can start to go wrong.
Because securing planning consent isn’t simply about having a good development. It’s about making sure the people who can influence its future understand why it is a good development.
And those people are an eclectic bunch.
Planning committee members. Borough councillors. Parish councillors. Local residents. Community groups. Neighbours. Officers. MPs. Businesses. Pressure groups.
They don’t all think the same way. They don’t have the same priorities. And they certainly don’t all want to hear the same message.
Planning is about people
Developers understandably spend a huge amount of time concentrating on the technical elements of an application.
Design. Density. Highways. Housing mix. Sustainability. Viability.
All important.
But somewhere amongst the reports, drawings, assessments and appendices sits something rather less technical: people.
People have opinions. People have concerns. And people sitting on planning committees ultimately have decisions to make.
That’s why communications and stakeholder engagement shouldn’t be something bolted onto a planning application at the eleventh hour.
It needs to be part of the strategy.
Know your audience
One councillor may be focused on affordable housing.
Another might care deeply about traffic.
A parish council could be worried about pressure on local infrastructure.
Residents may simply want to know whether they’re going to lose the view from their kitchen window or spend the next two years listening to construction traffic.
You need to understand the audience before deciding how to communicate with them.
Sometimes that means explaining the wider benefits of a scheme. Sometimes it means correcting misinformation before it gains momentum. Sometimes it means listening, adapting and demonstrating that legitimate concerns have been taken seriously.
And sometimes it means knowing when not to say too much.
There is no universal script.
The consultation box has been ticked. Now what?
Putting some boards in a village hall, sending a leaflet through a few hundred doors and creating a consultation website might technically constitute engagement.
But genuine stakeholder engagement goes considerably further.
It means understanding the local political landscape.
Who are the influential voices? What issues have caused problems locally before? What are councillors hearing from residents? Where could opposition come from? Which parts of the scheme are likely to resonate positively – and which need explaining properly?
Most importantly, what is the story you want people to understand about the development?
Because if you don’t tell that story, somebody else may tell it for you.
And you might not particularly like their version.
This is where Proper PR comes in
At Proper PR, we know property.
But we also understand the realities of local politics, planning committees, stakeholder engagement and the sometimes peculiar world of local government.
Our Joint MD, Russell Quirk, brings first-hand experience from the other side of the table, having served as a councillor, Planning Committee member and Planning Chairman.
That perspective matters.
It means we don’t approach planning communications purely as a PR exercise. We understand the environment in which planning decisions are made, the different audiences involved and the competing pressures and considerations surrounding a scheme.
Combine that with Proper PR’s property and communications expertise, and we can help developers communicate clearly, credibly and strategically throughout the planning journey.
We can help identify the audiences that matter, develop the messaging, create the materials, manage media and social communications, engage stakeholders and make sure the benefits of your development are communicated clearly and credibly.
In other words, you concentrate on delivering the development. We’ll concentrate on getting people to understand it.
Don’t wait until there’s a problem
One of the biggest mistakes developers can make is bringing in professional communications support when opposition has already gathered momentum.
By then you’re playing defence.
The local Facebook group is furious. A petition is circulating. Councillors’ inboxes are filling up and somebody has described your carefully designed residential scheme as “a monstrous carbuncle that will destroy the character of the area”.
Lovely.
Good communications won’t make legitimate objections disappear – nor should it.
What it can do is make sure debate is based on facts, that stakeholders have opportunities to engage properly and that the case for your development is being heard alongside the objections.
That work is considerably easier when it begins early.
Good development deserves good communication
Ultimately, planning consent will always depend on the merits of an application and the planning considerations surrounding it.
There are no magic words that guarantee an approval.
But there is an enormous difference between submitting a scheme and hoping everyone understands it, and proactively building understanding around it.
Planning applications can involve millions – sometimes hundreds of millions – of pounds of investment.
Leaving the communications surrounding them to chance seems a rather strange place to economise.
So before the application lands, before the rumours start and preferably before the local Facebook group gets involved, talk to us.
Proper PR can take care of the communications, stakeholder and political engagement surrounding your development – leaving you to get on with actually building it.