Over the last few months our research team has been asking:
‘What does best practice in consultation look like for major infrastructure projects in Wales’ – in particular Development of National Significance (DNS)
Our research was triggered by the new Significant Infrastructure Projects regime, under Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024. Our report recommends ways to ensure developers take on board best practice, and it is inherent within the engagement process.
In Spring 2025, we held a round table with infrastructure developers and public engagement experts. We discussed best practice on DNS consultations and shared experiences of delivering consultation programmes, the feedback, and learnings, helped us shape our insight report.
On Wednesday 23rd July 2025 we launched our report ‘Best Practice in DNS Consultation Engagement, Compliance to connection: Rethinking engagement standards’. The report can be found here.
At our ‘Delivering effective consultation for Infrastructure Consents in Wales’ breakfast seminar event we explored the requirements for statutory consultation moving forward under the Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024 Regulations, and how these fit with current practice in Wales for Developments of National Significance (DNS).
We are working on the future launch of the Wales Best Practice Group for Community Engagement in the Autumn, if this is something you’d be interested in, and you haven’t signed up already, please sign up here.
