ECF

Great article by my ECF co-founder Oliver Deed giving some further analysis on last week’s Australian British Chamber of Commerce Catalyst event bringing the best of #UK and #Australian #infrastructure thinking together! As always, an #entertaining and worthwhile read.

Our co-founders Kathy Jones and Oliver Deed are having a great time with the Australian British Chamber of Commerce at the Australian British Infrastructure Catalyst #ABIC2024 in London. Yesterday, Kathy chaired a very interesting panel on economic development narratives with David Hughes, CEO of East West Railway Company, Laura Shoaf, CBE, CEO, West Midlands Combined Authority, Tony Robinson from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and Ellie Evans, Senior Partner Volterra Partners LLP. We also heard from the Australian High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency, The Honourable Stephen Smith, about the growing close ties between our two countries. So far, today we've heard from Joanna Averley, Joanna Rowelle about new towns, as well as Bill Parasiris who spoke about the new city being developed at Bradfield in Western Sydney. We also heard from a super panel of young people who talked about the London of the 22nd century, facilitated by Future of London's Nicola Mathers. Tomorrow we're looking forward to heading out of London, to visit Laing O'Rourke's Centre of Excellence for Modern Construction, and to hear from Andy Burnham and others about the state of play in Manchester, Sheffield, and beyond.

This morning we hosted a roundtable discussion on the role #deliberativedemocracy can play in planning and urban regeneration policy. Chaired by Kathy Jones we were fortunate enough to be joined by Iain Walker from The newDemocracy Foundation, and Cathal O'Regan from Department of the Taoiseach, who shared their unique perspectives on the topic. There were lots of learnings shared. It is clear deliberative tools can be used by both public and private sector organisations when they developing planning policies, creating new masterplans, or designing new development projects. We heard from developers and local authorities already engaged in this type of work, and there were plenty of ideas for new projects discussed. The conversation will continue! Thank you so much to iNHouse Communications for providing us with the room and refreshments, and to everyone who attended. Involve | Demos | Delib | Quality of Life Foundation | Commonplace | Quality of Life Foundation | Greater London Authority

ECF welcomed Tim Ashwin from Tim Ashwin Consulting Limited to our offices last week for our second ECF Talks event. ECF Talks is a series of seminar-like discussions with experts from the built environment in which they give us insight into their area of expertise, and in turn we give them our view on the topic from a community engagement perspective. The talks have proved very useful in sharing knowledge across different sectors, and in demonstrating the importance of community engagement at all stages of built environment projects. Tim shared his expertise on business case development, which led to a discussion on how meaningful engagement can support business cases, and why engagement should happen as early in a project as possible. We also discussed different ways in which social value can be delivered in a project to bring benefits to the local community and make the project even more worthwhile. Thanks for coming to speak to us Tim! #ECFTalks #businesscasedevelopment #socialvalue #communities #engagement

❓ What makes for effective community engagement in the planning process? ❓ How effective are planning committees? ❓ Have we got the balance right between effective community engagement and speedy decision making? ❓ How can district councils get community buy-in for increased housing developments? These were just some of the #questions put to our expert panel (Anna Rose, Dr Victoria Hills MRTPI FICE FRSA MCMI CMgr, Hugh. Ellis, Adam Sheppard and Oliver Deed) yesterday at the District Councils' Network's webinar on ‘Engaging #communities in the #planning process’. A huge thank you to our panel chair, Jon McGinty, Managing Director of Gloucester City Council and DCN Vice Chair, to all our panellists, and to the 150+ #district #councillors and district officers who contributed a fascinating and informative discussion. Join the #conversation 🙋♂️ 🙋♀️ and share your thoughts in the comments below👇   Some reflections from our panel yesterday: 🏡 Adam Sheppard, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Birmingham - “...Planning has been seen, certainly for the last 15 years or thereabouts, as being a barrier to implementation, a barrier to delivery, an administrative bureaucratic challenge, whereas actually planning is a positive, constructive and a solution-orientated space.” 🏡 Anna Rose, Head of the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) – “[you need to meet people] where they are and so going into schools, going to baby groups, going to care homes, old people meetings, network centres, you need to take [the conversation] to them because it's very easy to assume that people aren't interested if you haven't spoken to them but quite often it's just that your process doesn't fit their needs.” 🏡 Dr Victoria Hills MRTPI FICE FRSA MCMI CMgr, Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute – “too often your residents locally are subsidising the planning process. The true cost is not being picked up by the applicant and you have to fork out the the cost of the Local Plan. So it's a very valid question... how are we going to afford all this, if you want us to do effective community engagement engagement as well…we are advocating for more of a cost based recovery [model]”. 🏡 Hugh. Ellis, Director of Policy at Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) -  "it's not our choice as planners or in local government, whether or not people have a voice, it's a democratic right." “...People and democracy are not the delay. That is not the definition of unnecessary time consuming processes. Democracy and public participation is not a bolt on, unnecessary factor. It is the factor”. 🏡 Oliver Deed, Managing Director of ECF – “deliberation, sortition and the use of representative panels, I think are going to be incredibly powerful moving forward in the planning space and are already being used by councils”.

Congratulations to our Practice Director Louise Bradley on her two year anniversary at ECF. We look forward to celebrating this milestone once she's off the crutches!

🚦70% of Londoners Back More Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)! Recent data published by Cyclomedia in its annual Urban Road Safety Index report reveals a significant rise in public confidence regarding road safety in London. Over 70% of Londoners now support more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), and a majority agree that all roads across the city should have a 20mph speed limit. This is a substantial increase from 50% in 2022, reflecting growing trust in the city’s safety initiatives. Londoners also feel safer on cycle paths, and the 20mph speed limits have notably reduced collisions. Despite this positive shift, there are ongoing concerns about accommodating new urban transport modes and improving lane separation. To read the full blog post, click this link: https://lnkd.in/ewy8XJUA 📢 Stay Informed Next week, ECF will launch its new monthly newsletter with updates on LTN and Active Travel news across England. Interested in receiving the latest insights? Sign up by emailing us at info@engagecf.co.uk. #RoadSafety #ActiveTravel #LTNs #UrbanTransport #London #LiveableNeighbourhoods

Last week, Sara Wilson attended the Business Western Sydney's Housing Now! Conference, and provides her reflections on the event below. At the Housing Now Conference, we heard from, NSW Premier Chris Minns, Planning Minister Paul Scully and Housing Minister Rose Jackson who spoke candidly on the challenges of the housing crisis and encouraged collaboration across all levels of government and industry to face the challenge head-on. It was, however, presentations from an individual impacted personally by the housing crisis and two community groups which really resonated with me. The first was a presentation by representatives from Sydney YIMBY and YIMBY Melbourne. As an engagement professional, I found their challenge to us to consider who we are consulting, a touch confronting. They presented compelling evidence from a proposed residential project where the majority of almost entirely negative feedback was from the richest, oldest neighbourhoods least impacted by the development, while there was little to no feedback (positive or negative) from the poorer, younger yet most impacted area. This was followed by Danielle Hooper who lives in Port Macquarie. Danielle and several family members found themselves homeless late in 2023 after being evicted from their rented home of seven years. A combination of increasing rents, competition for vacant properties, and not fitting the “traditional” family unit made it extremely difficult for Danielle and her family to find accommodation. Danielle’s story reminded me yet again of how easy it is to slip from relative security in terms of housing and employment, to being homeless and then making it difficult to maintain employment and access health services etc. Housing really is a fundamental human right. The Premier discussed highlights of the Productivity and Equality Commission’s latest housing report Review of Housing Supply Challenges and Policy Options for New South Wales, which made 32 recommendations to address the roadblocks that impact housing supply. Minister Jackson reminded those in the room all options as far as solutions for boosting housing supply should be on the table. This includes innovative tenure models, making land available for the private sector to take forward, and leaning on the soon to be released NSW Government Architect’s Patternbook while Minister Scully spoke about the opportunity for AI to help speed up design and approvals processes. One message was clear – all sectors need to work together to build a better future where every resident has access to safe, affordable, and sustainable housing. Well done to Business Western Sydney for choreographing a content rich, fast-paced forum. Kathy Jones | Tracey Arthur | Caitlin Brooks | Nicole Andrews | Shantelle O’Riordan | Alexandra Crozier #housing #NSW #communityengagement #sydney #housingnow

Community Engagement in Peterborough: A Weekend of Insights 🌟 This weekend, ECF was thrilled to engage with the Peterborough community about the Station Quarter project. On Friday, we set up at Queensgate Shopping Centre with exhibition boards and leaflets to share key details and gather feedback from residents and shoppers. 🛍️📊 We continued our engagement on Saturday in the city centre, near the Guildhall and Peterborough Cathedral, where we spoke with locals, business owners, and visitors to gain further insights. 🏛️👥 A big thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to speak with us. Your feedback is essential in shaping a project that meets the needs and aspirations of our community. 🙌 If you would like to learn more about the Peterborough Station Quarter project, you can take a look here: https://lnkd.in/e7xECgEv #Peterborough #CommunityEngagement #UrbanPlanning #StationQuarter #ECF #PublicConsultation

As we enjoy the last days of the summer, we look back at one of the most dramatic events that took place - the election of the new Government. With a new government comes the promise of change. The Labour Government has shared ambitious plans for the built environment sector, and we are excited to see how these will affect the sector in the future. In our latest blog, we hear from industry experts; Oliver Deed from ECF, Natascha McIntyre Hall from Gleeds, Charlotte Dove Bowen from Commonplace, and Tim Ashwin from Tim Ashwin Consulting Limited on their hopes and expectations for the new government. Read our blog to hear their insights 📝 (link in comments) 💭 What are your thoughts? Are you feeling optimistic about the new government and its ambitions for the future of the built environment? #builtenvironment #blog #labour #sustainability #housing