Understanding planning systems and developments for climate and nature: Training session one

In the UK, it’s widely accepted that we must develop new infrastructure, housing and renewable energy schemes to meet both our climate and nature commitments, and improve quality of life for people and the planet. Across the UK, people are passionately advocating for all new development to be more mindful of the climate and nature impacts of their projects. Often, such campaigning brings people up against the complicated and ever changing processes that development planning has become in the UK. This process can be a barrier for action due to its complexity.

This session is designed to help you navigate the complexities of the planning system, to work more effectively with politicians and decision makers for the green light on local renewable energy projects, transport schemes and climate friendly housing projects, to name but a few. 

This session will include:

• Demystifying the planning process so that you feel informed and empowered to engage both with the process itself, and with appropriate elected representatives

• Breaking down the different types of planning depending on a project's type, size and scope 

• How to identify key stakeholders and relevant politicians to engage with your campaign or project

• What the new Labour government has committed to in terms of planning reform, what they have done so far, what is currently planned in the future and where improvements might be needed

• Examples of renewable energy projects that have gone ahead and exploration into how and why they succeeded

This training session will be run twice to allow more people to attend at a time that suits them.

• Tuesday 12th November from 6.30 - 8pm

• Thursday 14th November from 12.30 - 2pm 

This session is the first in a two part series, with the second focusing on effective strategy for engaging with politicians on this topic, using Hope for the Future's relationship based approach - you can find out more about this training here.

There will be an opportunity for people attending the session to sign up for further Hope for the Future support for their specific development project exploring how they could most effectively engage their local politicians as part of the process. 

These sessions are being run by Hope for the Future. A special thank you to the European Climate Foundation for funding these sessions.