Neighbourhood Planning - A Neighbour from Hell?

Date: 05/12/11

The Government’s plans for the Big Society put neighbourhood planning at its heart, trumpeting that people will be given the opportunity to shape and influence the places where they live, giving them more reasons to say yes to sustainable development.

If only local attitudes to development were indeed that rosy!

The Government proposes a number of tools for neighbourhood planning, namely Neighbourhood Plans, Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders but questions arise from the Government’s proposals.  Are the incentives in place to encourage communities to support development in their area and is neighbourhood planning a fair system which involves all members of society, not just those who have the time, money and, frankly, stamina to go through the neighbourhood planning process?

There are many hoops for communities to be jump through before getting a plan or order in place involving getting neighbourhood areas and forums accepted even before work on plans and orders can start.  

Throughout this process, a great deal of input is required from the Local Planning Authority. The Government has said it will provide £50million to Councils up to March 2015 to get neighbourhood planning off the ground, but in these days of job and financial cuts, will this be sufficient, and will local authorise have sufficient staff to carry out this role?

One of the incentives the Government thinks will have people clamouring for development in their area includes the New Homes Bonus.  However, this money is not ring fenced and it is doubtful that communities will think that they have received a direct benefit from supporting housing development in their area.  The Community Infrastructure Levy will put “a meaningful proportion of Levy revenues raised in each Neighbourhood back to that Neighbourhood” but this seems more of a quid pro quo than a bonus that will incentivise communities to support development.  Other proposed incentives, such as local authorities being allowed to keep the majority of business rates gathered from new commercial development in an area, are likely to be seen as more of a threat by local communities who may be concerned that local authorities will be allowing development in order to increase their revenue, a concern that has already been expressed in relation to the New Homes Bonus. 

Even if neighbourhood planning does incentivise local people, how does this fit with the Government’s plan for growth? 

The Government is adamant that neighbourhood planning cannot be used to block developments “if an area needs to grow” but the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that a Neighbourhood Plan will take precedence over existing policies in the local plan for that neighbourhood, where they are in conflict.  As a result, it would seem that if a local plan is up to date with a growth strategy, the LPA will be able to steer neighbourhood planning in accordance with that plan, but if it is not, local people will have a better chance of  limiting development.   As the regulations on neighbourhood planning are due to come into force on 1 April 2012, there seem to be no proposals for transitional provisions for local authorities to get their plans up to date before neighbourhood planning comes in. This may be a very real problem for growth in an area, despite what the Government says 

The draft NPPF has attracted much negative publicity as a result of very vocal opposition from the likes of the National Trust. In particular, the presumption in favour of sustainable development is causing consternation, and in fact may encourage local people to try and block development before a LPA can get an up to date local plan in place.

The Homes and Communities Agency has attempted to square the Localism and growth circle by publishing a report entitled “Working Together: Delivering Growth Through Localism”.  This report does, however, make a number of recommendations for further measures that the Government should take to make Localism and growth work. It also recognises that the localism agenda needs to be adequately resourced for it to work properly and that concerns with the NPPF need to be explored more fully.

Bottom up planning is a lynch pin of the Government’s Big Society but at present, the Government is sending out mixed messages.  Unless the limits of neighbourhood planning are clearly set out and its formulation adequately resourced, it may not achieve the planning by the community envisaged by the Government,  only planning by who shouts the loudest.

This article is by Jo Hannah an Associate in DWF's planning team, and orginally featured in Local Government News in Decembmer 2011