Draft Delivery Agreement for the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park Local Development Plan 2025 - 2045
3.0 Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) Comment
3.1 Detailing the timing of and methods enabling participation at each stage of preparing the LDP, and how the Authority will respond to the results of the participation, the community involvement scheme is set out in full in Appendix 3.
3.2 Preparing the LDP is part of the Authority's function as a Local Planning Authority, alongside the Authority's broader statutory obligations to the social, natural and cultural assets of your National Park. Other public bodies and statutory undertakers have a duty to have regard to the LDP when preparing development proposals in your National Park; this is important because the NPA does not have responsibility for the full range of services such as regeneration and economic development which can impact on the wildlife, natural beauty and cultural heritage of the national park if not developed sympathetically to the National Park's special qualities which underpin opportunities for people's enjoyment and understanding of the National Park and is of key importance to the local economy as well as national well-being. The National Park is recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a Category V Protected Landscape (Cat V). That is, a landscape where the interaction of people and nature has, over time developed into an area of special character, valued for the significant ecological, biological, cultural and scenic benefits: and where safeguarding the integrity of this interaction is vital to protecting and sustaining the area and its associated nature conservation and other values.
3.3 Emphasizing the necessity of involving local communities in decision making processes, Management Guidelines for IUCN Category V Protected Areas sets out a series of best practice principles by which management decisions should be developed. These principles summarised in figure 2 overleaf, emphasise the importance of holistic management, centred on the lived experience of those who inhabit the landscape, whilst delegating decision making to those most impacted by such decisions.
3.4 These general principles, alongside the five ways of working of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act guided the development of Dyfodol Y Bannau, The Management Plan for Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, and were employed to help foster a collective sense of ownership in the future of Y Bannau. Table 1 summarises the principles of engagement which have developed through Dyfodol Y Bannau, and how they will be used to the preparation of the replacement LDP.
Figure 2: Summary of best practice principles by which management decisions should be developed in Category V Protected Areas.
Key Management Principles of IUCN Category V Landscapes[5]
1. Community Engagement
- Involve local communities in all stages of the decision-making process, from planning to implementation and evaluation ensuring that the needs, priorities, and knowledge of those subject to management processes are considered, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility.
- Respect and integrate traditional knowledge and practices These practices often embody centuries of wisdom about sustainable resource management and cultural heritage.
- Empower communities to take ownership of the landscape Focusing on capacity-building initiatives, participatory decision-making structures, and support for community-led projects.
2. Sustainability
- Prioritise ecological integrity, cultural heritage, and sustainable approaches balancing the needs of present and future generations, protecting biodiversity, and conserving cultural resources.
- Promote sustainable livelihoods and economic development supporting sustainable tourism, promoting local products, and developing green industries.
- Implement climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies ensuring the long-term resilience of cultural landscapes in the face of climate change.
3. Integrated Approach
- Adopt a holistic perspective and interdisciplinary collaboration bringing together experts from various fields, such as ecology, anthropology, history, and economics, to develop comprehensive plans for future management.
- Implement adaptive management strategies monitoring the landscape, evaluating the effectiveness of management actions, and adjusting as needed.
4. Equity
- Ensure fair, inclusive, and transparent decision-making providing opportunities for all stakeholders to participate in the decision-making process, regardless of their social, economic, or cultural background.
- Promote equitable distribution of benefits and respect for diversity ensuring that the benefits of cultural landscape management are shared fairly among all stakeholders, including marginalized groups.
5. Good Governance
- Promote transparency, accountability, and effective institutions establishing clear and transparent decision-making processes, ensuring accountability for management actions, and building strong and effective institutions.
- Develop and implement supportive policy frameworks enacting and enforcing policy that protect cultural landscapes and promote sustainable development.
Table 1: Public engagement principles of Dyfodol Y Bannau and their application to preparing the LDP.
|
Engagement principle |
Outcome |
Applied to preparing the LDP |
|
Inclusion of Diverse Stakeholders |
-Enhanced inclusivity of emerging policy and plans. -Diverse perspectives leading to innovation |
Engaging a wide range of stakeholders at early stages of LDP preparation. Engaging with place-based groups and bodies. To ensure that multiple perspectives are layered into discussions. |
|
Community Agency |
-Empowerment of communities to make decisions influencing their future and act in response to local knowledge. |
Engagement designed to promote and empower local leadership in decision making feeding into the LDP, providing mechanisms to support action at every stage of development. Investment in knowledge exchange and skill development between stakeholder communities to ensure all stakeholders have the knowledge and tools they need to effectively engage. |
|
Systemic Thinking |
-Greater resilience and sustainability of outcomes. -Long term thinking with focus on prevention. |
Ensuring discourse considers the interconnections between social, economic and environmental systems, to enable action beyond the scope of the LDP, whilst also ensuring LDP benefits community and planet (without compromising either). Focus the sustainable management of natural resources, beyond immediate gains favouring long-term outcomes guided by planetary boundaries and sustainable development goals. |
|
Feedback Mechanisms |
-Adaptive learning across stakeholder landscape allowing stakeholders to learn from success and failure. -Better information sharing and adaptability. |
Agreed systems for ongoing feedback from each stage of plan preparation to stakeholder communities. Identifying impact of previous involvement. |
|
Transparency and Accountability |
-Builds trust between agencies. -Develops shared processes to reframe conflict. |
Develop and maintain transparent governance processes around decision making – ensuring all key decisions are made in public by those who are responsible for doing so, with opportunity for stakeholders to participate in discussions with Authority decision makers. Rationale for all decisions clearly outlined and communicated with impacted parties prior to wider dissemination. |
|
Local Relevance |
-Ensures the lived experience of place is given weight and guides the process of development as well as outcomes. |
Stakeholder communities encouraged to focus on places and distinct spatial areas. Collaborative evidence developed within stakeholder groupings to have clear spatial components as appropriate. Policies co-designed within these groupings, to meet the specific social, cultural and ecological contexts in place. Mechanisms developed to enable representation of each stakeholder group within wider decision-making structures relevant to place. |
|
Focus on Well-being |
-Outcome led policy development which focuses on the achievement of the seven wellbeing goals as expressed in relevant local well-being objectives. |
Monitoring framework will link to broader measures of well-being, as derived (and implemented) through place focussed stakeholder groups, to include factors around social equity and environmental sustainability. |
3.5 Early in the process and relevant to the aims, scope and priorities for the LDP set out in Dyfodol Y Bannau, the Community Involvement Scheme seeks to benefit from innovative and novel methods of 'futures'' engagement with an ambition to reach a wide range of people through an intergenerational approach to visioning (aimed at engendering diversity in age groups, local community action groups, business, hard to reach groups and protected characteristic groups) and to build consensus over how the LDP can help meet the particular challenges faced in your National Park, alongside a greater understanding of other ways to take action and address challenges.
3.6 The Authority is committed to ensuring that the process is accessible to everyone and that differing perspectives of all participants will be respected and explored.
3.7 All information will be readily available through the Authority's website and visitor centres, and hard copies will be available for inspection by appointment at the Authority offices in Brecon (the deposit venue). All contributions are welcome in either Welsh or English language, and documents which form the subject of consultations will be produced bilingually in accordance with the Authority's Welsh Language standard[6].
3.8 Decisions made by the Authority, unless exempt, are taken in public, formal meetings of which are webcast live via the Authority's YouTube channel: Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park - YouTube
3.9 Maintaining contacts and records for all involvement in preparing the replacement LDP is important for transparency, not least to allow the Planning Inspector responsible for examining the LDP a clear understanding of how the Plan has been informed and shaped by involvement and consultation processes. The Authority maintains a database for these purposes to which any individual, organisation, or group can be added so they are kept informed of progress and involvement opportunities and consultations.
3.10 To review the Authority's current privacy statement and seek inclusion as a contact on the contacts database, please contact the NPA's LDP team ldp@beacons-npa.gov.uk
