Planning, public participation & learning humility!

I've been presenting submissions at planning hearings this week and last. Yesterday I took a different approach and presented very little so that we could get into questions and discussion. I'm very glad I did because I learned a lot all in quite a short space of time and want to reflect on that.

I'm intrigued at how the system we have here in New Zealand sets submitters up to feel powerless. I sent in my written submission. Then I received feedback that indicated that everything I said was rejected. Unfortunately, this made me feel that it was "me against them" and that I needed to convince and persuade. However if I had done that I would have missed the mark completely and learned nothing.

I had talked about my feelings prior to going into the hearing which was very useful because I had determined that I should go into the hearing with compassion, and to learn, or as another friend, Lucy Baragwanath put it, with humility - the assumption that I didn't know it all (which I already knew!). This worked well, although I found it a bit scary because I was worried that I would look like a fool when the conversation went outside my level of knowledge.

What I learned was a lot more about what the committee could and could not change and just how limited their power is in the system. It also left me thinking that any significant change is impossible once a plan is drafted because of the way various plans and strategies articulate.

The bulk of the work of an advocacy group needs to be done before the plan is put out for submissions.