To what extent does planning law listen to communities affected by large-scale inner-city redevelopment projects?

Thesis

This thesis uses case study methodology to analyse how the planning system listens to local communities affected by large-scale inner-city redevelopment projects. It analyses both the scope of the participation mechanisms, and the extent to which the law and policy shaping decision-making enables the planning committee to listen to the communities. This analysis shows that an absence of law and policy on developer consultation enables developers to shape their consultation to their needs. Planning actors are unable to recognise this whilst the community is left feeling the consultation is top down. Moreover, the consultation by the local planning authority is shown to be inaccessible and restrict the scope of community contributions by channelling their inputs into pre-defined support and object binaries. It is also identified that planning policies’ framing of affordable housing disinhibits the planning committee from listening to the local community on this issue. On the one hand, the extensive numerical framing of affordable housing minimises scope for debate. At the same time, gaps in planning policy on viability assessments have enabled developers to set key metrics within these assessments themselves in ways which restrict planning committees’ scope to listen to local communities. Overall, two key reflections emerge from this research that are of broader relevance to legal planning scholars. First, unless the complexity of the planning system is seriously confronted, the planning system will remain opaque to many lay users. Planning scholars have a role in sifting this complexity and identifying avenues for simplification. Second, to understand the planning system, legal scholars must invest time unpicking the role of different characters within the planning system. Most notably, planning officers play a significant role in planning decisions and the implementation of policy but are often overlooked in scholarship.

Authors: Rowland, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-amrg9md88
• Type of award: MPhil
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: planning; public participation; law; inner-city redevelopment
• Subjects: Law