The role of e-government and public participation in the planning process

The current UK Government have made a commitment to provide 100% of their services on-line by 2005 through ambitious plans to use Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to deliver a whole range of services to citizens. In particular the UK Government have recently invested over £4m in a Planning Portal which will be a general planning advisory service linking the public, business and other users of the planning system to a wide range of advice, guidance and services on planning and related topics. This paper will present on-going research (Carver et al 2000, 2001, Kingston et al 2000 and Kingston 2002) investigating E-government practices and public participation in the planning process. The paper will focus on the use of ICTs to provide innovative means of access to, and participation in environmental planning problems. A key feature of this is the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) via the Internet to communicate spatial data, issues and problem to community groups and the wider public. This paper will show how web-based public participation GIS (PPGIS) can help to overcome some of the problems in participatory planning by providing access and information to data and planning problems which have previously remained within the domain of ‘experts’. While there is a statutory requirement for the public to be involved in the planning process this is all too often limited to a fairly basic level of participation. This more often than not allows the public the right to know about what is happening and a right to object but there is often very little participation in the real decis ions. The paper will highlight the potential and drawbacks of current E-government practices in participatory planning based on case study research by the author and provide advice on best practice.