The Clapham Junction Action Group has shared its response to Wandsworth’s draft Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), highlighting both progress and ongoing concerns. Their feedback emphasises the need for genuine community engagement and revisits key reform proposals previously overlooked in 2019.
The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) sets out how Wandsworth’s communities can be part of shaping places in the borough and influence planning decisions. It is a statutory document that provides a framework for future consultation and community engagement in planning.
We publish below the general comment sent by the Clapham Junction Action Group.
On Tuesday 14th January, the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies organised an Open Meeting on Community Participation in Planning. During that meeting, Ian Harvey, Executive Director of Civic Voice, presented results from a survey, which revealed that the public neither trusts the planning system nor planning developers. The survey also showed that the influence of communities—those directly affected by development proposals—is considered negligible. Civic Voice advocated two key reforms:
- Introduction of a pre-application community consultation page.
- Introduction of community right of appeal.
At the same meeting, Koen Rutten of the Town and Country Planning Association, who has led work on public participation, revealed that 88% report no collaboration, co-creation or co-production with residents regarding planning matters. The TCPA recommended several measures for public participation in planning, including:
- Local Planning Authorities should strengthen their Statement of Community Involvement by incorporating targeted methods, ensuring wider public engagement directly influences Local Plan development.
- Local Planning Authorities should enhance the usability and transparency of their websites and planning portals.
- Local Planning Authorities should establish mechanisms to provide funding for community-level planning initiatives, professional and mutual support, and advice services for local people, whilst enabling community groups to access planning officer support at the pre-application stage.
Over the past decade, the Clapham Junction Action Group (CJAG) has shared frustration with many other community groups in the borough regarding Wandsworth’s planning process.
CJAG found that whilst the previous guidelines (2019) presented sound principles, they offered no practical improvements to the numerous issues raised during planning forum meetings. Indeed, they contained a statement claiming that “the Council has long-established and successful methods of dealing with, and consulting on planning applications”—the very methods our reform proposals sought to address.
CJAG has chosen to participate in this consultation to highlight our work and experience regarding planning reform proposals, which were previously discussed (and regrettably disregarded entirely by the Council during the 2019 Community Involvement consultation) among local community groups in the borough.
We believe the 2024 draft Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) shows improvement from the 2019 version, appearing to define clearer objectives and methodologies.
Nevertheless, we wish to take this opportunity to comment on the draft whilst resubmitting some key elements of our previous proposals, which we firmly believe remain relevant and warrant proper consideration.
Conclusion
We praise the numerous commitments of the document to improve Community Engagement, particularly the key principles outlined in paragraph 2.5 regarding the level of impact for engagement activities.
However, to ensure these admirable principles translate into meaningful action, we urge you to demonstrate your commitment to genuine community engagement.
In 2014, an independent university work on Wandsworth (WBC) planning consultation highlighted that citizens’ trust in the planning system is paramount for successful consultations, achieved by demonstrating that public views are valued. The research examined how public consultations are conducted in our modern society, where information communication technology (ICT) pervades all fields, and assessed the extent of its implementation in the London Borough of Wandsworth, whilst analysing public trust in the planning system. The research identified two key advantages of community consultation:
- It provides cost savings by preventing inappropriate development in unsuitable locations, noting that widely supported proposals are less likely to face challenges
- It values local knowledge, much more so than an individual planner could develop.
The study determined that WBC’s approach followed a ‘Decide and Defend’ (DAD) strategy, whereby development locations are announced and subsequently defended through constructed arguments (cf Rydin, 2011). This approach leaves the public with only two options: opposition or acceptance.
Our draft Paper on Planning Decision Reforms published in 2018-19 remains pertinent and offers a genuine opportunity to demonstrate that the Council has indeed changed and “raised the bar“. Consultation should not function as a one-way process where the local authority merely submits documents, requests feedback, and retains the freedom to dismiss responses at will.
We are keen to collaborate with you on this basis, which would represent the first steps towards the improvements outlined in the new Community Involvement document.
- Read: Community Participation in Planning: a London Forum meeting
- Read the proposals of the Clapham Junction Action Group: Aspirations to reform planning decisions in the borough of Wandsworth
The Putney Society has also submitted their contribution to the SCI consultation. They “welcome a timely review of the SCI which informs much of the interaction between the Council and local residents“. However, they also highlight areas requiring clarification and improvement. Key suggestions include ensuring distinct consultation processes for different community matters, emphasising the legal scope of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), and addressing outdated local policies and procedures. The Society calls for greater transparency in planning consultations, clearer communication with residents, and better notification processes for planning applications.
They also stress the need for honest acknowledgment of challenges in neighbourhood planning and for updating the Council’s Charging Schedule to reflect current community needs. Explaining that there is only one Neighbourhood plan which has succeeded in Richmond borough, and this is because of the dedication of several senior planners living locally, they wrote: “This SCI should be honest enough to admit that the bar here is impossibly high.”
The only one that was approved in Wandsworth, the Tooting Bec and Broadway Neighbourhood Area and Forum Designation, is no longer active according to their Facebook page. [Note from the editor]
Disclaimer: Cyril Richert is representing the Clapham Junction Action Group at Council’s meetings
