In more detail
The Skeffington Report, People and Planning. Report of the Committee on Public Participation in Planning, published in 1969, reported on an enquiry into public participation in planning led by Arthur Skeffington who was a Labour MP and the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Tony Greenwood. It arose from growing concern about the top-down nature of post war planning and development and growing interest in the idea of ‘participatory democracy’ (that ordinary people need to be engaged in decision-making rather than simply voting for representatives to make decisions on their behalves).
The report was criticised at the time for being ambiguously worded and not very hard-hitting. It said residents should be ‘educated’ about planning, but did not make clear what participation was or why it was important. Even so, the report was the first attempt at a systematic approach to community participation in planning. Skeffington said that local development plans should be subject to full public scrutiny and debate.
Although it did not appear to have much impact at the time, the Skeffington Report inspired a new generation of planners and community activists. It, perhaps, marked the start of the ‘long crisis’ which has affected planning and urban development and during which politicians have sought to create a more participative planning system which does not lead to NIMBYism (that is, opposition to any development on the part of people who say 'Not In My Back Yard' to every proposal). In this way, the report has had a long term effect, extending even as far as the Localism Act and the introduction of Neighbourhood Planning.
| Key Facts:
The Skeffington Report, published in 1969, was the first attempt to set out a systematic approach to community involvement in planning. Although it was widely criticsed as inadequate at the time, an increasing number of planners, designers and urban renewers began to aim to work with communities rather than in spite of them from the early 1970s onwards. the long term influence of the report extended as far as the Localism Act introduced in 2011. |
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BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.
| created: 2016-07-17 10:35:48 | by: admin | status: f published |