topic: Neighbourhood Plan

Local Plans

Not all local plans are Neighbourhood Plans, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t produced with a great deal of community input and involvement…

Not all local plans are Neighbourhood Plans, but that doesn't mean they weren't produced with a great deal of community input and involvement...

In more detail

Local plans are spatial plans that add a more local policy layer to the overall guidance contained in a council's Local Development Plan.  Before they are adopted by the council, they are consulted on. When they are adopted by the council, they become 'supplementary planning documents' (SPDs): part of the Local Development Framework.

Most local plans are prepared by the council.  Neighbourhood plans do the same job as council-produced local plans (they add a local policy layer to the development framework), but they carry more policy weight because they have been produced through a community-led Neighbourhood Planning process set out in the Localism Act 2011.  There are also local plans which have been made through community-led processes which are not those set out in the Localism Act.  And there are rather more local plans which have been planner-led but which have involved the community significantly.  Once adopted by the local council, all of these plans - regardless of how they were made - have policy status within the local planning framework.

Four Ways of Making a Local Plan

You can differentiate four approaches to making a local plan:

  • Neighbourhood Planning as described in the Localism Act
  • community-led planning not according to the process in the Act
  • planner-led planning with significant community involvement
  • planner-led planning with less community involvement.

Of the three processes highlighted in this toolkit in Birmingham, the plan in Balsall Heath and the one being made in the Jewellery Quarter are both Neighbourhood Plans.  The process in Moseley, was a community-led plan which just pre-dated the Localism Act.  Moseley's Plan was written by local people and led by Moseley Community Development Trust - which is a community body which more or less fits the description of a neighbourhood forum under the Localism Act.  The plan was the city's first community-led SPD and was adopted by the council in 2014.

SPDs which are made by the council do not require a ballot- they are adopted by the council after a period of public consultation.  If your local community can work with the council planners and elected councillors, you can produce a local SPD (which can be community-led or significantly community-influenced), quicker than you would normally be able to produce a Neighbourhood Plan.

 

Key Facts:

Supplementary Planning Documents make up part of the local development framework, regardless of whether they have been made by the community or by the local council.  If you are able to work with your local council, you may be able to make a local plan which is led by the community or is significantly community-influenced in less time than it would take you to make a Neighbourhood Plan using the process set out in the Localism Act.

Page Links from here

Local Planning System

Neighbourhood Planning

Local Development Framework


OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.

created: 2016-06-06 15:11:47 by: admin status: f published

Local Businesses

What makes a neighbourhood a good place to live? The people. Maybe the parks and schools and the local doctors and other public services… What about the shops, the job opportunities and the other things which are provided by local businesses…

What makes a neighbourhood a good place to live? The people. Maybe the parks and schools and the local doctors and other public services... What about the shops, the job opportunities and the other things which are provided by local businesses...

In more detail

Local businesses are an important part of the neighbourhood and the social value of living there.  Whether you are thinking of neighbourhood planning, wider community planning or any action designed to improve the place you live, you need to consider the people who work there too? The video below was produced by Business in the Community - which is a charity led by business people which aims to promote links between business and communities:

Neighbourhood planning

If your neighbourhood isn't covered by a parish council, then the designated body to lead neighbourhood planning is a neighbourhood forum which, for the purposes of the process, must include a representative of the local business sector.  In some areas, one may be enough.  But in many neighbourhoods, local business people can bring skills and resources to the neighbourhood planning process that you'd be foolish to neglect.

There is no reason why a neighbourhood forum could not be made up by equal numbers of business and resident representatives, if there are sufficient willing to serve.  The business community, after all, is not necessarily any more homogenous than the resident community.  The interests of corner shop-owners are not always the same as high street store managers; factory owners may have different priorities to commercial landlords?

Wider community planning and neighbourhood improvement

Community planning and action to improve the neighbourhood - through, for example, neighbourhood management; working with public services; and by developing community-led projects - could also benefit from the skills and resources of local businesses.  Often in the past, local imrpovement partnerships have been led by representatives of public services.  A partnership led by local councillors, active community representatives and local business-people might be more able to act as a productive local team.

Key Facts:

If you want to make a neighbourhood plan for your area and there is no parish council, then you must involve business representatives in the neighbourhood forum you form to lead the process.  There is no reason why you should see involving business as limited to a single rep on a neighbourhood forum.  The skills and resources which business can bring to your local improvement partnership are worth having whether you are thinking of neighbourhood planning or wider community planning.

Page Links from here

Neighbourhood Planning: involving business and landowners (PDF) published by RICS, 2014

Getting Down to Business: lessons and tips from involving forms in neighbourhood planning (PDF) published by Planning Advice Service, 2014

Bankside case study - engaging businesses in neighbourhood planning published by Planning Aid

Business in The Community

And in the toolkit:

Business Improvement Districts

Developers

Social Enterprise

Designated Bodies

 

 

 

 


OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.

created: 2016-06-03 12:26:08 by: admin status: f published

Neighbourhood Boundaries

Everyone is clear about the boundaries to the neighbourhood – aren’t they? Not always…

Everyone is clear about the boundaries to the neighbourhood – aren’t they? Not always...

In more detail

One thing a neighbourhood planning process has to be precise about is the area the plan is for.  This is because the plan is a legal document that will be part of the Local Planning Framework.  It will be used in making important decisions about development.  Everyone needs to share the same idea of where the boundaries are.

Parishes... and in practice

Some of the guidance on neighbourhood planning assumes that you live in a place with a parish council.  If you do, then the boundaries of the parish will normally be the plan area.  Most urban neighbourhoods, however, don’t have a parish council.  In this case, you have to decide the boundaries of your area.  Most guidance about the process: starts with you agreeing the area of the plan; then setting up a body to lead neighbourhood planning in it; and then asking the local council to recognise the area and lead body.

In practice, the initial stages in urban neighbourhood planning overlap:

  • you can’t agree an area until you have started talking to other people (including local business and the council and possibly other public services like the police) about what they think
  • you can’t set up a body to lead neighbourhood planning until you have talked to local business and to people who work locally and to the local councillor(s) and council managers and maybe other local services.

Rather than a neat process which goes forward in precise stages, if you’re doing neighbourhood planning in an urban neighbourhood, you need to be prepared for a creative and inclusive conversation at the start of your planning journey.  The area; the lead body; the involvement of the council and others; and support from the planners employed by the council, are all up for negotiation.

Conversation

The initial conversation about a neighbourhood plan may take a few months.  Representatives of voluntary groups, for example, usually want to confer with their members who may meet every other month. After the conversation is complete, you will have agreement about: the area; the lead body; and the council’s support and recognition.

There are just two more things to bear in mind about the plan area:

  • it can be amended as the process goes on – although ideally you want to get an area which is right first time
  • people can get very uptight about boundaries – particularly if they see them as defining an area they either want to belong to or don’t want to be part of. This can make the initial conversation a bit tense.  Once you get into the process, however, it tends to get easier because rather than talking about boundaries (which are things which divide people), you are going to be talking a lot about centres (which are things which bring people together).  When you talk about centres, it’s necessary to listen to everyone who uses them, whether they live in the designated area or not.

Neighbourhood planning means bringing people together to discuss the important interests they share in a neighbourhood.  It is not about drawing a boundary around a place to exclude people from talking about it or playing a part in how it develops.

Key Facts:

The boundaries in which a local plan applies need to be clearly agreed.  Most guides to the neighbourhood planning process assume you will either work along the lines of parishes (which may not be very relevant in urban neighbourhodos) or say that you should agree the area at the outset.  In practice, the process is not so clearcut and will probably involve some adjustment.  The important things are to allow some time for a conversation about boundaries; to bear in mind that you can amend boudnaries to some extent as you go one; and that as you get into the process, it becomes more about centres within the area (and the people who use them) rather than the boundaries around them. 
 

Page Links from here

Neighbourhood Planning

Designated Bodies

 


OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.

created: 2016-05-29 12:51:51 by: admin status: f published