Major re-generation projects these days are always the subject of consultation, and the same goes for less comprehensive urban re-development.

Other changes to our communities are also supposed to be preceded by public debate; this covers proposed alterations to policing, schools, health centres or hospitals. So, assiduous residents or local representative organisations who have their fingers on the pulse, should not have been taken by surprise when change occurs.
Yet here is the paradox. Despite a massive increase in the prevalence of consultation, there are still those who either missed it, weren’t interested or can’t be bothered, but then profoundly dislike what’s proposed. These are the “sleepers” who only awake when projects move from their planning phase to their implementation phase.