“The Power of the Plan”, recently published by the Carnegie UK Trust, offers a sound argument for community plans to be acknowledged as the foundation for any nutritious planning system.  But it offers no compulsion for the cultural shift which it advocates for statutory planners of the future to act as facilitators.  Without some form of compulsion, however strong the argument, professional planners, like elected officials, are very unlikely to embrace participative democracy as the foundation for anything.  Or are they?

There is another route forward though, which is where the Report tentatively heads.  This is to identify what it would take to make community planning of at least equal quality, relevance and substance to the statutory processes - thereby gaining greater leverage.  To this end the Report includes a slightly undernourished Charter of Rights and Responsibilities for the Community which still hits a bulls-eye with Number 3 of its 5 points : “Facilitation that is independent plays an important part of a community-led planning process, ensuring that it is purposeful and positive and that the results are robust enough for planners.” 

It may sound obvious but this shift, from a cry for help (“in the future planners should…”) to something practical which focuses on how communities can act to increase their focus and traction, offers a challenge to the power games involved in planning.  “Facilitation” would need to go much further than the Carnegie report suggests, extending to a range of different ways of galvanising and animating what constitute the real interests of communities.

Such facilitation, combined with a much more prominent role for mediation in resolving the inevitable tensions between community and statutory plans, could help counter the vested powers and the tedious, stale processes of current practice.  This shift will certainly be needed if there is to be any real increase in constructive community engagement, interest and trust in things that matter to them.  But if successful  it would allow people to truly embrace the Power of the Plan.

Read The Carnegie Trust report here