Participation: Engaging Citizens and Stakeholders in the Development of SUMPs

The EU project CH4LLENGE sought to identify and help assist with pressing challenges of developing, implementing and assessing a SUMP.

“Challenge Kits” consisting of a manual and a factsheet were produced to address each of these common challenges. The participation tools support practitioners with planning for meaningful engagement with stakeholders.  A number of topics are covered including how to clearly identify parts of the SUMP cycle that would be suitable for stakeholder participation and appropriate methods for public engagement given certain local contexts.

Common participation challenges of SUMP processes include:

• limited prior planning experience, resources, and/or capacities,
• deciding whether internal or outsourcing support for participation activities is required,
• developing a participation strategy to ensure common understanding between all involved actors to prevent conflict,
• creating a good representation of impacted stakeholders from all demographics.

The factsheet briefly introduces these topics which are then discussed fully in the manual. A caveat for using the manual is that it does routinely give European examples to illustrate guidance. Nevertheless, the guidance itself is highly relevant for developing and transitional countries alike.

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