The public can’t be trusted

Consider these next sentences. The infrastructure industry doesn’t trust the public. And, when it comes to decision making the public should allow the expert to make the decision for them. How many of you/we secretly harbour this view? 

Big infrastructure projects are highly complex, hugely expensive, technically challenging and very long term. They provide benefit for the country at large, but are often most challenging and disruptive for the communities they are closest to. Those most acutely affected will shout loudest yet in a democracy if we pander to the NIMBY, we could end up going BANANA’s (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody). 

So, if we can’t trust the public , must take them out of the equation. To do that in a representative democracy we need political leadership. The expert knows best and the politicians must use their mandate to force their will on the vocal and difficult minority. 

If we know that the public matter, we put more effort into getting the message right first time, every time.

The lessons of our infrastructure history show that this approach is not paved with shiny new projects. This approach might have worked in the Victorian era, but in a digital age where the individual is more empowered than ever, it is high risk prospect. 

The key point here is about trust. Trust is reciprocal, if we don’t trust the public, they will not trust us back. That is how trust works. By forcing actions on a sceptical public, public faith in all new infrastructure projects erodes. Moreover, when we dismiss them and accuse them of small mindedness, we end up focusing their mind-set on what is being taken away, not on the opportunity that is at hand. And in the infrastructure sector, the result is the stalemate and challenge faced by project such as HS2, South East Airport Capacity, Road User Charging, new nuclear, to name but  a few. 

We have to accept that it is both important and possible to win over the public mind on these issues. For by doing so, we are forced to think harder about the project and the message. It can’t just be that we know a new project must happen, the public need to know this too.

So, what can and should be done? 

Firstly, we have to accept that it is both important and possible to win over the public mind on these issues. For by doing so, we are forced to think harder about the project and the message. It can’t just be that we know a new project must happen, the public need to know this too. 

When Manchester rejected congestion charging, was this because the public as a whole are too small minded or uninformed to understand the cost benefit? Or, was it because the scheme was wrong for the people of Manchester? I would like to think it was the power of communications as I worked on the No campaign. It wasn’t. The real reason why there was an 80% No vote was because Manchester didn’t have a big enough congestion problem worth fixing. 

Secondly, if we know that the public matter, we put more effort into getting the message right first time, every time. 

Industry knows that High Speed 2 isn’t really about High Speed. HS2 is about capacity, the railways are running out of space. That is the compelling message. That is what persuaded the expert. But, faced with the public what did the message become? The message morphed into one of shiny new high speed trains that get to Birmingham half an hour quicker at a cost of between £30bn and £60bn. Now that feels like a vast amount of money, particularly when there are relatively new Virgin Trains’ Pendolinos running on £9bn upgrade of a rail line. No-one can make the justification for HS2 on that basis alone. Yet, that is how the public campaign launched. 

Of course substantial work has now been done to correct these early mistakes, but we have to ask ourselves why they were allowed in the first place. Is it because we, the experts, don’t trust the public? Engagement, consultation, whatever you call it, is something to be got through and until we change our mind-set, getting through it is going to get tougher and tougher.

George Hutchinson is a partner at consultant Stockwell Communications.