Re: What is a good response rate to a planning public consultation? - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

I would have said you can't generalise. Any response rate will depend upon how controversial the issue is, the socio economic and demographic of the population you are consulting with, and the method used to consult. Anything over 10% is very good in my view - the fact is most people either aren't interested or just can't be bothered to respond. Statistically I am sure the response you have should be broadly representative of the wider population....unless it is just the objectors that have been motivated to respond, which can easily happen!

I should have said that the second consultation was dealing with specific sites, probably why we received more responses, whereas the first was on the general distribution of development.

I always wonder whether a high response rate is indeed always necessarily a "good" thing. As mentioned above, it does depend on the issue, but a lower response rate may just mean people don't have anything to object to. Also, people may rely on their representative bodies to respond on their behalf e.g. parish councils or community groups.

I agree with Emily and think that a better way to measure effective response rates should include ensuring that equality and diversity groups, especially disabled people's access groups and organisations, women's groups etc should be included. Also it might be worth doing a quick (?) analysis of where the individual responses are coming from (e.g. location, age, gender etc) as the consultations may not be reaching some residents or people working in the area. A spot check like this might help target information and advertising though I understand this might not be practical in the current economic climate unless there is some project money available from the Big Society idea/budget - after all, the coalition government has said they want greater local involvement. Could some enterprising planning authority manage to get funding to work with the CVS to improve consultation?

I was taught at University that the generally accepted success rate for social research methods - surveys and questionnaires and the like - is around 22%. But I think the previous commenters are right - it's the quality of response, not the number of responses, that matters. Surely it is better to get a small number of well thought through and reasoned representations that have clear policy implications and move plan-making on, than a 10,000 signature petition saying something you could have predicted yourself at the start of the consultation. Harriet I always wonder whether a high response rate is indeed always necessarily a "good" thing. As mentioned above, it does depend on the issue, but a lower response rate may just mean people don't have anything to object to. Also, people may rely on their representative bodies to respond on their behalf e.g. parish councils or community groups. Emily Butcher Principal Planning Policy Officer Hampshire County Council 03 Sep 2010 14:06 Re: What is a good response rate to a planning public consultation? Posted by I agree with Emily and think that a better way to measure effective response rates should include ensuring that equality and diversity groups, especially disabled people's access groups and organisations, women's groups etc should be included. Also it might be worth doing a quick (?) analysis of where the individual responses are coming from (e.g. location, age, gender etc) as the consultations may not be reaching some residents or people working in the area. A spot check like this might help target information and advertising though I understand this might not be practical in the current economic climate unless there is some project money available from the Big Society idea/budget - after all, the coalition government has said they want greater local involvement. Could some enterprising planning authority manage to get funding to work with the CVS to improve consultation?

While the volume of responses can be encouraging it is the quality and detail of the responses, along with the variety/diversity represented within them that are crucial.