Bringing lay knowledge into place-making? A critical exploration of community review panels in London and Southeast England

ABSTRACT

This article serves as the first academic inquiry into the establishment and functioning of community review panels (CRPs) in England. CRPs are an innovation in public participation in planning. The first CRP was established in 2018 to operate within the boundaries of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) in West London. It was set up to mirror the workings of a Design Review Panel, with people selected to serve on the CRP for their local knowledge and ability to participate in substantive discussions. CRPs are now active in six areas of London and Southeast England, predominantly in locations experiencing significant development or regeneration. The article is based on analysis of primary interview and observation data, grey literature on CRPs, and a review of academic and policy debates on public participation and lay knowledge. It explores the potential for CRPs to provide meaningful input into planning and place-making. It concludes that well-managed panels can make meaningful contributions to the development control process, but could be more effectively employed in broader place-making. Both outcomes are contingent on local planners' willingness and ability to serve as brokers of different types of knowledge, testing lay and expert perspectives alongside each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Lay knowledge
• participation
• community review

Acknowledgements

This article is based on a thesis that the author wrote as part of her MSc in Urban and Rural Planning with the Joint Distance Learning Consortium at the University of the West of England (UWE). She would like to thank Dr. Rebecca Windemer at UWE for her supervisory support. The author would also like to thank her employer, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) for their generous financial support that allowed her to see the MSc through to its conclusion. Finally, she would like to thank the two original anonymous reviewers of this article for their helpful reflections on theoretical framing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of interest statement

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 Email exchange, 10th November 2023.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by International Institute for Environment and Development.