Opening the Black Box of Stakeholder Consultation: the Development of a Planning Management Tool for the Environment Agency

Stakeholder participation in decision making processes promises fairness,effectiveness and efficiency and has become the orthodoxy in a wide variety ofpolicy areas, especially in environmental policy making and governance.Central to stakeholder participation is the identification and engagement ofthose whose contribution is most relevant in any particular case. This paperreports on a study to develop a stakeholder engagement and consultation toolto prepare the Environment Agency Strategic Planning Function for theintroduction of the Water Framework Directive....