Bristow, T; (2008) Evaluating the effectiveness of planning performance agreements in involving communities in the orchestration of complex development proposals. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Evaluating PPAs - flexible policy mechanisms designed to facilitate greater pre-planning application interaction between developer and Local Authority in relation to complex developments- in terms of their procedural efficacy in involving communities and in light of contemporary factors impacting upon the planning system establishes that PPAs possess potential for improving the nature of public participation in orchestrating developments whilst nonetheless operating firmly within the context of the U.K. planning system, which itself poses more significant obstacles for achieving effective community involvement- notably resource scarcity. Whereas interviews with PPA policy-makers represented the process in a similarly positive light as the aspirations of policy documents, re examining responses to the Government-run PPA consultation- and even more so the practical experience of two case-studies of PPAs in practice- challenges existing, predominantly positive, analyses of PPAs through illustrating how negative perceptions of developer and Authority collusion can arise, and how practical PPA implementation has on occasions failed to realise idealised policy rhetoric. Situating PPAs in their rightful context at the centre of Government growth-orientated agendas, changes in the planning system, and in turn with regard to factors impacting upon the planning system itself, research revealed that PPAs respond to deeply-rooted rather than short-term causes, are relatively apolitical in essence, and owing to their level of support from developers and Local Authorities alike will remain tenacious in the face of changing market conditions. Ultimately, unpicking the complex dynamics of PPAs, community involvement, and the planning system at large returned the project to is initial catalyst- the popularly perceived lack of community involvement in Government 'eco-town' policy. Given irreparable damage to public opinion has not yet occurred, and as PPAs offer qualified potential to improve the nature of community involvement in the orchestration of significant developments, provided the process is sufficiently sensitively publicised, the PPA approach might tentatively be applied to eco-towns to positive effect.

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