When was the last time you read an advert in your local newspaper?

Simon Creer is Communications and External Affairs Director at the Royal Town Planning Institute

I don’t mean online, but in the actual hard-copy paper that dropped on your doormat.

I bet you can’t remember, or you are one of those unlucky people who live in a news desert where there is no local news provision whatsoever.

Now, it might seem like an obscure question from a grizzled old journalist, but it is incredibly important for the world of planning and particularly as we stand on the verge of one of the largest periods of plan-making in recent decades.

The proposed draft National Planning Policy Framework for England will mean that each local plan is going to require three stages of consultation, and consultation means public notices. But the difficulties facing the media and changes to means of communications applies equally in the devolved nations.

So, it is with a certain degree of joy that I note the Ministry for Housing and Local Government (MHCLG) has published new guidelines on engaging the public when preparing a local plan.

It’s a positive step stating that ‘good quality engagement from a diverse range of sources will provide strong foundations for the plan’. This is absolute music to my ears. The quality and volume of engagement are a key tenet of good plan-making and it is therefore great to see the Government championing it.

The guidance is also clear that local plan development needs a clear consultation strategy, an early start and proactivity to help communities find the information they need.

Furthermore, there is a whole section on using digital tools as a method of engagement, which means we’re moving away from those paid for advertisements in hard copy newspaper that may or may not exist.

I have always had concerns that the methods of communicating and consulting on local plans had not kept pace with the modern media, online and social media environments. So, it is hugely refreshing to see this guidance out in the wild.

The key question now is, how do planners put it into action?

I would argue that a good engagement strategy means understanding the difference between consultation and communication. While both activities are similar they are focused on slightly different outcomes. Consultation is about gathering views and informing the process.

Communication on the other hand is about keeping people informed as the process progresses.

To that end the community engagement principles in the guidance probably warrant a bit of unpacking. The strategy should outline the areas when you are informing people and the times when you are engaging people. The sentiment is great; start early, help people understand the process and use mixed methods of engagement. I would add a layer of pure communications that informs people of what the process will be when it will run and how it will operate before any consultation is undertaken.

And that definitely means analysing and assessing what the media and social media landscapes in your particular area looks like. Is there a hardcopy newspaper? Are there active neigbourhood groups? And is there anyone who could advocate on your behalf?

Elsewhere the Department for Culture, Media and Sport recently published their local media action plan which includes a promise to consult on the delivery of public notices.

The Public Interest News Foundation made a lot of noise about this during the passing of the Planning and Infrastructure Act because they identified that the reality of placing adverts in hardcopy newspapers is no longer a viable way to actually reach people.

We will be waiting for that consultation and responding on behalf of the membership when it does land, but in the meantime, planners need to be really mindful of the media and communications landscape they are operating in as they prepare for their local plan consultation and follow the guidelines as laid out by MHCLG.

The RTPI and The Planner are working on something that will publish shortly to help with the methods of engagement, provide some best practice examples and hopefully work as a guiding star for the marathon of local plan creation we are about to engage with.

In the meantime, I strongly recommend you familiarise yourselves with the MHCLG guidelines, and, as the guidance says, 'do not assume local people will know how to find and access information.' After all, if no one sees the notice, hears the message, or understands the process, then consultation becomes little more than a tick-box exercise.