Neighbourhood planning
Neighbourhood planning gives local communities the opportunity to plan for their local areas and decide what the place where you live should look like and how it should develop and grow in the future. It can be used to:
- choose where new homes, shops and offices should be built;
- have a say on what those new buildings should look like;
- influence the design and functionality of open spaces around where you live; and
- grant planning permission for the new buildings your community wants to see go ahead.
Neighbourhood planning cannot be used to block the building of the homes and businesses considered to be necessary to meet the borough's current and future needs. However, you can use it to influence the type, design, location and mix of new development.
There are three types of neighbourhood planning your community may wish to do:
- Neighbourhood Plan - establish your vision and general planning policies and proposals for the future development and use of different plots of land in your local community area.
- a neighbourhood plan will form part of the borough's statutory local development plan against which all planning applications and development proposals will be decided.
- a neighbourhood plan could include neighbourhood development orders and community right to build orders ...
- Neighbourhood Development Order - allows you to grant planning permission for certain types of development that you want to see go ahead in your community area.
- Community Right to Build Order - allows you to grant planning permission for the local community to build small-scale housing developments, community facilities or shops.
How do we do neighbourhood planning?
Neighbourhood Planning is done by local community groups, not the council, although we can provide some guidance and technical assistance.
See our 5 steps guide to neighbourhood planning
See also Neighbourhood Planning introductory guide (DCLG)and the formal Neighbourhood Planning Regulations
The Government has also funded four independent organisations to help advise and support you, and to provide some financial assistance to local communities interested in doing neighbourhood planning:
- Planning Aid(part of the Royal Town Planning Institute)
- The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment
- Locality(The Building Community Consortium)
- Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)in partnership with the National Association of Local Councils (NALC)
