Education and Training Projects

Following the 2004 changes to the English planning system, notably the extra importance given to engagement requirements, BDOR (with others) launched a highly successful national training programme for local authority planners and others. This programme - Community Involvement in Planning – used an innovative, locally-based ‘hosting' system for the courses, with the added benefit of leaving behind local support groups to share and advance practice. Over 60 authorities benefited from this programme.

A related series of courses for planners on facilitation skills (for policy teams) and process design (for development control teams) is currently underay and is likely to be boosted by the 2010 proposed changes to the planing system. This is complemented by our involvement in a training programme for senior Councillors as part of the IDeA's Leadership programme (with the Planning Advisory Service), now focusing on Localism issues. In September 2007 Jeff Bishop was one of a select group delivering a 'Masterclass' in participation at an OECD International Summer School in Bologna.

As part of Jeff Bishop's work as a Partner in InterAct Networks he was involved in a very large cros-organisation training programmne on 'Working with Others' for the Environment Agency.

Jeff Bishop undertook (with Ray Lorenzo from Perugia) a substantial training programme across Italy in community participation and sustainable development . This has now resurfaced as a series of nationally promoted courses under the auspices of a new training and development company entitled ILEX.

Jeff Bishop has been a Visiting Professor in Urban Management at City University, New York and in Vermont and Carolina, and a British Council Visiting Fellow to Australia, focusing on all aspects of Environmental Education.