Yesterday I spoke to 120 planning/development specialists at Waterfront’s annual Infrastructure Planning Forum. I used it to share the Institute’s analysis that there is a sea-change in the public’s view of participation and engagement. A world of post-truth, fake news and anti-establishment sentiment poses a real threat to evidence-based policy-making.

So much so that we have decided to devote our Conference in June to exploring the issue of honesty in public consultations. Do public bodies always tell the truth? Do people believe what public bodies tell them? Is there sufficient confidence that organisations listen to the opinions of those affected by their proposals?

Infrastructure planners are well aware that their public consultations can provoke serious controversy. Today we discussed the dynamics of NIMBYism and the difficulty of reassuring residents who are anxious about unpopular developments like shale-gas extraction (Fracking). Project promoters realise that they often face real challenges to convince communities that the process is fair, and that they comply with the increasingly-complex Law of Consultation.

No wonder our Quality Assurance is popular.