Experts determine need for social media in quality consultation
06 January 2010
At a roundtable lunch hosted by law firm Field Fisher
Waterhouse, a group of experts discussed the future of public
consultation in the face of changing politics and
communication.
The panel, chaired by Karen Cooksley Head of Planning & Regeneration at Field Fisher
Waterhouse, consisted of planning consultants, architects,
communications consultants, developers and a councillor, concluded
that social media presented an excellent opportunity to raise the
standards of consultation universally.
The need for quality in consultation is changing as a result of
the political agenda for “localism”, the ever-increasing media
environment and the need to front-load consultation to avoid
expensive appeals.
Attendees were positive about the need for change: Chris Brett
of Barton Willmore said:
“The concern which once existed has now been lifted as
developers fully expect to consult and many view consultation as a
benefit.”
Mark Loveday, Cabinet Member for Strategy at the London Borough
of Hammersmith and Fulham said:
“The opportunity to get people together to talk is an exciting
one and quality consultation should demonstrate that the scheme is
right for the area.”
The group determined that the characteristics of quality
consultation are establishing trust, engaging with as well as
informing the community and being creative about the methods of
consultation relevant to a specific project.
This pointed to the increased use of social media - be it
Twitter, Facebook, You Tube or a custom-made social media platform
to supplement traditional consultation techniques. Social media
also enables segmentation and the opportunity to communicate with
hard to reach groups.
Marcus Adams, an architect at John Thompson and Partners, used
interactive mapping on consultation exercise with very successful
results. He described the success of the project:
“Our design proposals for three schemes in Southampton were
incorporated into both an interactive and physical citywide scale
model which enables us, developers and the planning authority to
present new ideas about how the city can be developed in the future
and engages with the public in debate and discussion in a format
they can understand. It is an exciting design resource that we have
used successfully before in presenting early proposals at public
consultation at Dickins Yard, Ealing. This can gain the public's
confidence in seeing what is happening and not be fearful of
change.
Tricia Topping, chief executive of property marketing
specialists TTA Group commented:
“The practice of consultation has the potential to transform
thanks to social networking. Social networking provides a
real opportunity to engage directly with those who don’t
traditionally take part in consultation exercises, create a genuine
dialogue and monitor effectively. But the best part is that
we can achieve all this through a medium which people really enjoy
using.”
Karen Cooksley, partner and Head of Planning and Regeneration at
Field Fisher Waterhouse, summed up:
“With 80% of planning applications now online, the involvement
of electronic media is an inevitability. The immediate
opportunity for the development community is to embrace this
positively and to work with online communities rather than simply
ignoring or firefighting increasingly powerful bloggers and
tweeters.”
For further press information please
contact:
Louise Eckersley, PR Manager,
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP on 020 7861 4120.