Open Local Government Report Launch

Join the Northern Ireland Open Government Network as it launches a new report ‘Open Local Government – Community engagement in local planning in Northern Ireland’

When: 27th October / 12.30pm-1.30pm

Where: Zoom – register here

Join NIOGN as we launch ‘Open Local Government – Community engagement in local planning in Northern Ireland’  which lays out how transparency, accountability and participation can make local planning services in Northern Ireland more responsive to people’s needs and priorities.

‘Open Local Government – Community engagement in local planning in Northern Ireland’, was written by independent researcher, Andy McDevitt, as part of NIOGN’s Open Local Government project.

The report provides an insight into the challenges of meaningfully engaging with Northern Ireland’s planning system from the community perspective.

Two concrete examples of flawed community consultation processes in two local authorities, Newry Mourne and Down District Council and Mid Ulster District Council, are analysed to illustrate the consequences for all stakeholders when councils fail to meaningfully engage with communities.

The report offers recommendations on how to begin to address these issues, to strengthen approaches to transparent and participatory decision-making, to redress the balance in favour of the public interest.

The Open Local Government project was made possible through funding from the National Lottery’s Great Ideas Fund.