Here's our Top Ten (some done with others, so real thanks to them as well). You decide whether we've wasted our time.  (Those with a * are, or soon will be, official 'models of good practice'.)

•  As part of a major project in the early 1990s for the (then) Countryside Commission on ‘Design in the Countryside', BDOR invented, piloted, produced guidance for and ran national training programmes on Village Design Statements (VDSs). Since then over 600 VDSs have been produced by local communities – the first time in the world that local people have produced material that then gets formally lodged in a statutory planning system. Recent work (as well as supporting further statements) has involved tranining in Italy and evaluation of Ireland's pilot programme of VDSs.

•  Some research work on ‘Development Briefing’ (for the Housing Research Foundation) eventually emerged through partners as 'Concept Statements'. As part of this, BDOR produced the publication ‘Lifting the Quality', the first and only joint publication by the Housebuilders Federation, central government and the Planning Officers' Society.

•  Yet another research-based project for the Countryside Commission - on Countryside Community Action - moved into real life practice; this time through the Rural Action Grant Aid scheme. This approach was years ahead of its time in several ways, notably by bringing agencies together to plan grant aid coherently.

•  Back in the mid 1990s BDOR undertook research for government on Community Participation in Planning and Development . That started to persuade government that participation has its value. Then, in 2002, BDOR wrote the key chapter for central government on participation in Making Plans. All that laid the foundations for the fundamental changes in the planning system (in 2004) to place community involvement at central stage. Since then BDOR has produced guidance on community involvement for others and run a hugely successful national training programme (for over 60 authorities) on community involvement.

•  Following this theme leads to BDOR's remarkable list of practical involvement or engagement projects on plans and strategies. Several - Kennet Local Plan*, Warwickshire Transport Strategy*, Blackdown Hills AONB Management Plan* and the Thanet Coast Plan* projects - are still regarded as ‘models of good practice' by central government or the commissioning agencies. BDOR now also has a healthy portfolio of remarkably successful consultation processes on large scale regeneration schemes. That includes Dursley (Glos), Bridgwater, Trowbridge, the Science Museum (Wroughton, Swindon), Salisbury, Central Markets Rome and Hengrove (Bristol). The latter is particularly significant because BDOR helped to turn it from a project dramatically resisted by the local communities to one that received what planners described as a “staggeringly low” number of objections at application stage. STOP PRESS: The Bridgwater work recently received a Commendation from the RTPI South West.

•  Some of BDOR's practical projects have been rooted in situations of real conflict - occasionally starting with some people not willing to share a room with others! That conflict resolution or consensus-building has had a major and successful impact for the Combe Down Stone Mines* project in Bath (attracting £150 million grant), for the Parking Strategy in Stratford-upon-Avon*, on the Waste Strategy for Guernsey and for Tate St. Ives.

•  From the early 1990s on, BDOR were centrally involved in advancing sustainable development across the UK (and a bit in Italy, Slovenia and the USA) through Local Agenda 21 . This included practical projects (the UK's first community-led LA21 Action Plan), guidance materials, training packs (for members officers and communities) and training courses.

•  To complement other rural work, BDOR has recently been involved with research, development and training work on ‘Community Plans’, mainly Parish Plans and Market Town Plans, helping to promote them to government and others. One recent project BDOR was involved with focused on low carbon actions at community level. STOP PRESS: Since the Localism Bill this now ikncludes work on Neighbourhood Plans.

•  Although BDOR has no specific subject interest, we happen to have worked a lot on renewable energy. First, we helped to produce the South West Sub Regional Renewable Energy Targets and the South West Protocols for Community Engagement in Renewable Energy . We then helped to take the protocols up to a national - UK-wide - level and have run a management development awayday for Regen South West. BDOR designed the basic structure for the extremely successful Community Renewables Initiative that led, in just 3 years, to over 180 community-led and community-owned projects across the country. BDOR have also managed the highly challenging engagement on several extremely large wind power projects in Wales.

•  Finally, all of the above is underpinned by a series of training courses and programmes (nearly always with others) on facilitation, process design, consensus building and community engagement strategies. One recent course, with 14 people, received 8 evaluations of 10/10!