Citizen Space.
Take the strain out of repetitive processes.
Government organisations of all scales and sizes need to issue permits, clearance and licenses – repeatedly, consistently and with input from stakeholders. Citizen Space makes it easy.
From street planning orders to state land usage, public bodies around the world use Citizen Space to make their permitting processes efficient, elegant and effortless.
Citizen Space is a powerful digital platform for running permitting and licensing processes. Request a demo to find out more.
What is permitting and licensing?
Whether it’s granting licenses to drive a taxi or build a hospital, issuing and renewing permits is a core function of government agencies.
Some of these are routine procedures but many - like permits to run waste facilities - can deeply affect local residents and businesses. Organisations have a duty to inform and involve the public in these decisions.
Typically, consulting on permits and licenses involves:
- Publishing relevant documents, such as impact assessments
- Outlining the criteria for assessment
- Asking for views, both from members of the public and stakeholders
- Demonstrating transparency and accountability throughout the decision-making process
Next-generation tools to modernise the process
Citizen Space is a powerful, user-friendly platform that public sector bodies worldwide trust to manage their permitting and licensing processes online.
Organisations use Citizen Space to standardise, simplify and scale up their work of getting input in permitting processes.
Request a Free DemoGranting or denying licenses – from re-zoning residential areas to new waste management facilities – has real impact on citizens’ lives. While it’s not always glamorous, permitting and licensing is an essential democratic function and it’s important for residents and stakeholders to have their say.
Land use permits and rezoning applications
Citizen Space for the Western Australia Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH)
Managing land use
As part of its remit, DPLH operates the state processes for land amendments and rezoning in Western Australia - an area that covers almost 1 million square miles. Zones are an important tool for managing the different ways in which land is used.
A crucial part of this process is opening zoning changes up to public comment and input. DPLH publish information about proposed amendments to how land is used (e.g. residential or commercial use), and invite anyone who might be affected to have their say. DPLH runs multiple significant consultations on these kinds of applications every year.
They chose Citizen Space
Previously, responding to these zoning applications was bureaucratic and difficult. Applications were hard to find and making a comment or objection was a complicated process.
Switching to Citizen Space has made the land use consultation process faster and more convenient for both DPLH and the public. DPLH staff are able to create and deploy a standardised template for the consultations, making all the relevant information available to the public at the point of response. And respondents can complete the end-to-end process – of discovering, understanding, commenting on and receiving feedback about land use applications – in a single, straightforward interaction.
Request a Free DemoCommunity engagement and consultation is critical for good planning outcomes and process. It leads to inclusive plan-making, better decisions and confidence in planning.
WA Department of Planning, Lands & Heritage
Standardised, effortless processes
Permitting and licensing is often a huge body of repeating work. Citizen Space lets you standardise the process - so you can save time and resources.
Nuclear licensing at Sellafield
Environment Agency, UK
A contentious topic
In 2019, the Environment Agency (EA) consulted on a revised permit for Sellafield Ltd, a multi-function nuclear site in Cumbria. Due to the changing nature of its activities, their permit needed adjusting to reflect the new types of activity.
The team posted a list of issues and topics that were within EA’s remit and a list of things over which it had no control, which gave respondents an expectation on what sort of action they could expect on the back of their feedback.
The EA published responses where consent was given. They felt it was important, given the subject matter, to make sure the whole process was as transparent as possible.
Streamlined internal processes
Environment Agency has used Citizen Space to manage all of their consultation activity, including permits and licenses, since 2017. Now, EA staff can run all their permit consultations from one master template, drastically reducing the administrative work involved. In using Citizen Space, the EA has saved time and money and created space for innovation in its public engagement activity – making it more efficient than ever to gather feedback on environmental permits.
Request a Free Demo[Environmental permits] can be the focus of a lot of public concern and opposition, which is why we consult the local community and others carefully and seriously and take account of their views.
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, UK
Hold up to scrutiny
Permitting and licensing are crucial decisions that directly affect people - and can often come under intense scrutiny and opposition. Citizen Space makes it easy to show that decisions are made fairly.
Join organisations like the UK Environment Agency, Western Australia Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency in running your licensing and permitting processes with Citizen Space.
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