Community Engagement
Engaging with the community at an early stage of any project has been central to the Bidwells Planning Team approach in assisting our clients to bring forward development proposals. This philosophy has been confirmed in legislation being brought forward by the Coalition Government in the emerging Localism Bill and National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Our methods of community engagement our bespoke to each project and involve using a number of 'tools' to achieve genuine engagement and residents the opportunity to influence the development of proposals. These include holding exhibitions, establishing stakeholder meetings, and distributing leaflets and posters. Depending on the proposals we also establish websites to further advise community groups and the general public of the latest information. By establishing a dedicated website, it also enables full internet access to the project and an interactive page where local stakeholders and residents can comment.
At an early stage, we discuss and agree our approach to any community engagement exercise with the Local Planning Authority to ensure we have included as many local stakeholders as possible. Once we have completed an exercise the Bidwell's Planning Team prepare a Statement of Community Engagement to support our proposals.
Community Engagement is an important area of our services which we believe adds value to any development proposal.
