Research and Development Projects

In the last couple of years, after long background work, much of BDOR's commitment to encouraging better participation in environmental change has come of age. BDOR's ideas and principles are now being embedded in policy and guidance at central government and local government levels.

The first example was the national guidance on Consultation in Air Quality Management. The second was the inclusion of our approach to transport planning in guidance as a model of good practice (based on work in Warwickshire.

Most importantly. BDOR's early research work for government on participation in planning and our chapter in the ODPM publication ‘Making Plans' (main authors Baker Associates) were fundamental drivers towards the major planning reforms and a better and stronger system for enabling community involvement.

Linked to this work on broader planning issues is our recent work on Community Plans (Parish Plans and Market Town Initiatives) undertaken across the South West. The resulting report - 'An Exciting Future for Community Plans' (from swan@devonrcc.org.uk) - is already creating great interest all round the country and we are moving on to implementing many of its conclusions.

BDOR were instrumental is framing up and then supporting the three year national Community Renewables Initiative, led by the Countryside Agency. Also linked to renewable energy, BDOR have been part of a team (led by the Centre for Sustainable Energy) to move onto a national canvas the 'Protocols for Community Engagement in Wind Projects' that we helped to advance across the South West. This includes adapting the approach across England and into Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

On a very different tack, Jeff Bishop is now part of a widely experienced team brought together to evaluate, over the next five years, the National Lottery ‘fair share' initiative. Fair share aims to get better quality support to those disadvantaged communities that have not so far received their ‘fair share' of Lottery funding – something the evaluation will test, but in a very interactive and innovative manner.