ABSTRACT
Until recently there has been a tendency for developers, local government and environmental agencies to only consider public and stakeholder concerns when they disagree with a proposal or a decision. There are exceptions to this generalization, such as British Petroleum actively engaging with a wide range of stakeholders in developing oil and gas facilities in Scotland in the 1970s. While there was no legal requirement to do so, the company considered this approach to be beneficial. As a result of this openness they faced no public inquiries during this early phase of development.
