We had our first, actual, physical, face-to-face consultation session this week – real people, draughty community hall, bad tea, the lot. It was a novel experience and brought home to me the power of talking to people in person, even if the face masks don’t help in establishing a personal connection.

The scheme was a development of 80 homes on the edge of a village and the community was torn between those who were opposed in principle to any new homes, and those who accepted the inevitable (given there was a draft local plan allocation) and were prepared to engage in a conversation about design. Although, truth be told, even the latter group did not really want to see any development.

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