Mr. Niall Cussen:

I will amplify my colleague's points. The legislation can only go so far. This is really about training and public awareness. There is a strengthened role for the office in regard to driving public awareness of the planning process. It is much more overtly brought out in regard to our corporate provisions, purpose and so on.

Through the development plan process, we have seen particular exemplars of local authorities using all sorts of new engagement devices such as virtual portals and so on. The old model was to put the development plan on display in a local library and hope people would turn up after tea to have a look at it. We are in a different era now. Some local authorities are really innovating in that area. It goes back to my point about resources and training. Some local authorities are excellent in this regard and are getting traction in terms of public engagement. We have work to do in getting that sort of approach more pervasive right across the system. We need to move on from two-dimensional plans with all sorts of colours that speak a language ordinary people may struggle with to a much more three-dimensional and visualisation-based approach that can connect people to what the planning authority envisages for their areas. That takes a little bit of time. It certainly takes skill sets, ICT capabilities and so on. That is the area on which the focus must be because it is all about bringing people into the plan-making process. There is nothing in the Bill that prevents that and there is much in it that supports that approach, but the Bill of itself will not be able to deliver that on the ground. That comes down to people, resources, systems and so on. We are only three years in existence. We are doing our best to try to drive better awareness. There is the learning and development strategy, training for local authorities and various processes to which Ms O'Connor referred, as well as our various media engagements, sponsorship of TV programmes and pieces we do in the media and on social media. That is a space we would like to go into, hell for leather, in particular, for the next round of development plans and local area plans, which are upon us.