<b><b>More community involvement may seem harmless enough - but it could lead to the demise of some developers</b></b><br><b>&amp;“Statements of community involvement&amp;” - not a phrase that trips off the tongue, nor though does it sound threatening. Yet hidden away behind the seemingly innocuous concept of greater consultation lies a number of serious problems for housebuilders - ones that should not be taken lightly.</b><br> The origin of this new government approach lies in the tension at the heart of planning policy. <p></p><p><b><b>an inevitable row</b></b><br> The government originally decided that the public inquiry system was making the delivery of large scale projects so slow that they were built years too late for our economy. They announced that in future such projects would be dealt with by parliament, thus scuppering the pressure group tactic of bogging down every inquiry in the Somme of infinitely detailed examination of every aspect of energy or transport policy on each and every occasion something was proposed. It was inevitable that a row would follow. Equally inevitable was the government&amp;’s back-tracking for its robust concern with our economic well-being. </p><p> So the concept of a balance between speeding up the system and more and earlier consultation was born, …