
Research and Development Projects
In the last couple of years, after extensive background work, much
of BDOR's commitment to encouraging better participation in environmental
change has come of age. Common ideas and principles, drawing from
our own work and that of others, are now being embedded in policy
and guidance at central government and local government levels.
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. Jeff Bishop has been
described by government officials as 'the architect' of these changes.
Linked
to this work on broader planning issues is our 2008 work on Community
Plans (Parish Plans and Market Town Initiatives) undertaken
across the South West. The resulting report - 'An Exciting
Future for Community Plans' - created great interest all
round the country. We are now moving on to implementing some of
its conclusions in the context of 'Localism'. This work includes
a major research study on community-led planning for CPRE Gloucestershire.
BDOR
was instrumental in framing up and then supporting the three year
national Community Renewables Initiative, led by
the Countryside Agency. Also linked to renewable energy, Jeff Bishop
was 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 BDOR 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 was part of a widely experienced
team brought together to evaluate, over the last five years, the
National Lottery ‘fair share' initiative. Fair
share aimed to get better quality support to those disadvantaged
communities that had not so far received their ‘fair share' of Lottery
funding – something the evaluation will tested, in a very
interactive and innovative manner.
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