SPS Seminar
Citizen engagement in planning major infrastructure projects in England
Professor Jim Claydon
20 November 2018
Room F (please note room change), 12:30-14:00
Large scale infrastructure projects are a universal feature of urban development. They help to meet basic needs for energy, water, accessibility, and other services, and may steer development along more sustainable pathways. But big projects can do harm and may waste resources. Inevitably, there will be winners and losers and uncertainty about the wider consequences. Citizens should be engaged in the planning, design and implementation, but the scale and complexity of projects can create difficulties in consultation and participation.
In 2008, a new system for assessing the need for and engaging communities in the planning, design and implementation of major infrastructure was introduced in England, and with some success. It exposes project plans to public scrutiny and ensure that communities are consulted on detailed implementation. The lessons from this approach are of interest to other countries.
Professor Claydon will discuss citizen engagement in infrastructure planning using examples from Hinckley Point Nuclear Power Station in south-west England; Navitus Bay Windfarm off the Jurassic Coast of England; and a proposed new road tunnel under Stonehenge.
Jim Claydon has been examining inspector responsible for making recommendations to ministers for three major infrastructure projects in England. He is a town planner with over forty years’ experience in local government, higher education and private practice. He is Past-President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and an expert in marine planning on which he advises Welsh Government and the Marine Management Organisation in England. He has previously been National Planner for Planning Aid England, Head of the School of Planning and Architecture at UWE Bristol, and currently chairs Community Forums for Hinckley Point C nuclear power station and Stonehenge A303 road tunnel.
