Draft Statement of Community Involvement Update Consultation

The SCI approved by OPDC’s Board and published in January 2020, explains how and when OPDC will consult communities during the planning process for the Old Oak and Park Royal area, both in producing planning policy and in carrying out its development management functions. The SCI also provides guidance to developers for how they should consult communities when bringing forward planning applications.

Following the onset of Covid-19 and subsequent Government restrictions and guidelines for engagement, OPDC is proposing amendments to its SCI. This is to ensure that the SCI’s requirements ensure that safe and effective community involvement in the planning process can be conducted remotely, without the need for face-to-face engagement, for the duration of the pandemic.

The measures set out in the proposed updates will be implemented while restrictions are in place due to Covid-19, or any subsequent public emergency, but could be adopted in the long-term as best practice. All other requirements set out in the SCI which are not impacted by these measures as a result of the pandemic remain in place.

Some limited factual updates have also been made elsewhere in the SCI.

View the updated Statement of Community Involvement (SCI).

Make comments on the proposed updates set out in section 4 (pages 33 to 36) of the SCI, using one of the following methods, providing your full name and contact details:

• Email: [email protected]
• Post: SCI Consultation, OPDC, City Hall, Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA

When providing your responses if may be useful to consider the following questions:

• Are there other approaches to support people without internet access in planning consultations that we should consider?
• What temporary measures would you like to be kept and used in the long-term?
• Can you suggest examples of where online planning engagement is done well elsewhere?
• Have we missed anything? Would you make any additional suggestions to better consult with people remotely?

Please ensure that all responses are submitted by 23:59 Thursday 22 October.

The draft SCI update may be viewed online. Alternatively, hard copies of the draft documents may be made available on request by contacting OPDC, either via email or by post (see below).

To provide further details about the updates and answer questions, OPDC will be holding a webinar on 23 September from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. To attend you must register with us in advance to receive log in details. OPDC’s Planning Policy team will give a short presentation outlining the updates and providing guidance on how to participate in the consultation. This will be followed by a Q&A session with members of the public.

To register for the webinar or if you have any questions regarding the purpose of the SCI or how to respond to the consultation, please contact OPDC via email at [email protected] or phone on 020 7983 6520, we would be happy to help.

• Draft Statement of Community Involvement Update (showing proposed updates as tracked changes to the current document)
• Equalities Impact Assessment