Consult ... all ye faithful! Seasons Greetings from the Consultation GuRU

This is Blog No 116

Regular readers of the Consultation GuRU Blog may have had a legitimate expectation of one more topical discourse before Christmas. Maybe reflections on a Government consultation or two or three thoughts about the latest judicial review to rule upon public engagement.

Instead, I just want to thank the many friends and colleagues who have supported my work in 2025, and, in many cases for years beforehand.

We need someone to bang the drum for consultation. Without it, more decisions might become unstuck, and more leaders might be emboldened to ride their luck and ignore wiser voices around them.

It’s been a year where the voice of NHS patients and public through Healthwatch is under threat and where the role of consultation in planning is set for serious weakening. Ministers in a hurry seldom want the delays inherent in seeking stakeholder views, and yet, once again, the Government machine relentlessly publishes large number of weighty consultations every month. Are they truly genuine? Or just to be seen to be listening? As always the answer is ….sometimes!

We can do many things to improve the situation. One is to move away from obsessing about the set-piece one-off exercise, and recognise the many other creative ways we now engage and consult people. That’s why I will spend 2026 promoting my FOUR FUNCTIONS FRAMEWORK and helping practitioners find ways to leverage it to deliver quicker, more agile and more effective consultations.

As many of you embark upon the seasonal co-production rituals of singing carols or making lunch, please join me in taking some days to reflect on wider issues and think of so many engagement enthusiasts, some of whom, as in the NHS, face uncertain times in the year ahead.  It may be a time to regain a sense of perspective, as well as a sense of humour.

And with that in mind, I offer a new Carol for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

God rest ye merry stakeholders

The planners won’t delay.

The Planning Infrastructure Bill

Became the law today

To save us all from saying ‘No’

For ‘growth’ has gone astray ...

(Chorus of housing developers)

We have thousands of NIMBYs to annoy

To annoy …

Oh, thousands of NIMBYs to annoy

To Parliament, sing praises

For giving us this Act.

The consultations were too much

For people to react.

So therefore ask them just this once

And then their names redact:

(Chorus)

We have thousands of NIMBYs to annoy

To annoy …

Oh, thousands of NIMBYs to annoy

We want to build a million homes,

And more if we find land.

The Manifesto said so much,

And on its words we stand.

So, ban the blockers one and all;

We’ll give each one a grand!

(Chorus)

We have thousands of NIMBYs to annoy

To annoy …

Oh, thousands of NIMBYs to annoy

Everyone will be pleased that I have resisted the temptation to record myself singing this carol, and so I am off to be Gunning around the Xmas Tree

I wish a Happy Christmas for everyone who celebrates it;        Nadolig Llawen

And the Seasons Greetings to anyone who doesn’t.                 Cyfarchion y Tymor

Rhion H Jones LL.B

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