The Government should consider introducing transparency rules governing lobbying firms who work for developers, according to a new report, ‘Scaring the living daylights out of people: the local lobby and the failure of democracy’.
The report, written by author Anna Minton and published by public relations monitoring body Spinwatch, says sponsored features in the press are ‘part of the arsenal of tactics used by PR and lobbying companies trying to change perceptions of contentious development’.
The report concluded that the Government should ‘consider the introduction of transparency rules for lobbyists operating at a local level’.
It added: ‘The aim of such registers would be to ensure that the activities of developers and lobbyists are transparent, revealing who is lobbying whom and about what.’
Spinwatch writes:
In a Spinwatch report published today, Anna Minton examines allegations of dirty tricks, sham local consultations and a well-oiled revolving door between developers and councils. She also reveals how lobbyists set out to intimidate local opposition to the controversial HS2 high speed railway.
Intimidation, bullying or conflicts of interest are common practice among lobbyists, developers and local authorities involved in pushing through contentious development such as HS2.??‘Scaring the living daylights out of people: the local lobby and the failure of democracy’ details case studies from around the country. The revelations include information about how lobbyists working for the ‘Campaign for High Speed Rail’ set out to intimidate local opposition aiming ‘to shit them up’.
The report outlines how these tactics have implications for the way democratic debate develops in the UK, with these routine abuses, which reflect the failure of democracy, undermining the public interest.?? It reveals allegations of dirty tricks on the part of developers and lobbyists acting for them, which include fake letter writing campaigns and the use of front companies to obscure the real intention behind planning applications.?? And it highlights how the revolving door between councils and developers has seen a number of high profile council employees move from local authorities where they worked on contentious schemes to work for the developers of those schemes.
The consultation process on the planned demolition of large parts of central London, including the Heygate Estate in south London, the Carpenters Estate in East London and the Earls Court project in West London, is widely derided by residents as a ‘sham’. Meanwhile consultations around the country, from London to East Devon, Liverpool and Aberdeenshire are dismissed by residents, with many of the companies carrying out consultations on contentious schemes employed by the developers of those schemes.
The report also reveals the links between lobbying, PR and the media with local residents protesting against development reporting that local media has run campaigns against them. In Aberdeenshire, for example, local residents opposed to Donald Trump’s golf course development have been subject to alleged intimidation and harassment and politicians opposing the development were vilified in the local media.
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