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Residential Blog

Neighbourhood Plans: Five years on

Q3 2016

It’s been five years since the Government launched Neighbourhood Plans in a bid to provide communities with more say in local planning matters. But has it been a success?

Going local

The Localism Act 2011 provided the framework for the introduction of Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs) that could include policies on what kind of development would be allowed in parish or neighbourhood areas. Once a draft plan has been through a ‘light touch’ examination, public referendum and has been ‘made’ by the local authority, it forms part of the statutory Development Plan for the local area.

While NDPs can’t say ‘no’ to all development or reduce the number of new homes planned for, they do allow locals to have more say on where building takes place. There are now over 1,900 areas in England that are developing NDPs and of these, 200 plans have now passed referendum.

The government claims this is proof their policy is working. And there are now plans to extend powers through the Neighbourhood Planning Bill which will make further provisions to speed up the process and give more power to the people.

But it’s not all been smooth running…

Initial scepticism

When NDPs were first introduced they were dubbed a ‘NIMBY’s charter’, with some concerns over how they might negatively impact housing delivery. Although government figures show that housing numbers planned for are 10% higher in areas with a NDP than in those areas without, this data is based on a small number of NDPs and the methodology used by the Department of Communities and Local Government has been contested.

There are also concerns over who gets involved. It was felt that middle-class, well-educated, often retired professionals would be those driving the plans, while those in poorer areas wouldn’t have the time, resources or ability to get involved and would therefore miss out. A recent report by the think tank ResPublica supports this view, recommending that the planning students should help community groups in deprived areas develop NDPs.

Where are the resources?

Resourcing NDPs has consistently proved a challenge. Developing a plan can cost anywhere from £10,000 to well in excess of £100,000 which can be prohibitive for smaller villages or lower income communities.

The government has increased funding, but to write a meaningful plan the cash often barely scrapes the surface – especially if these communities don’t have a planning expert in their midst and need to pay for an external consultant to advise or write the plan. Then if a developer challenges the plan, costs can skyrocket further.

And while some have managed to come up with enough money and volunteer time to get a plan going, once the initial plan is adopted, keeping it up to date in the constantly changing world of planning may prove difficult. Currently there is no mechanism in place to review and update NDPs bar going back to the drawing board and starting the whole expensive and timely process again.

At a time when local authorities are facing severe cuts to their planning departments, finding money and time to support NDPs is sometimes not a high priority. Some commentators are asking for it to be made easier for groups to create the plan, while others are concerned that making it simpler would lead to less robust plans. NDPs form part of the statutory Development Plan so they should be high quality documents. Better resourced groups producing better quality plans should be the way forward – but where will the resources come from?

Problems arising

The development industry has a love-hate relationship with neighbourhood planning, the sentiment often being directly correlated to whether or not a site has been allocated. Some developers have taken the initiative and are working with locals to develop the plan together, with one of two even going as far as to help resource it. On the flipside, others have brought expensive court proceedings that have proven fatal to a NDP; in a recent case in Aylesbury Vale brought by a developer, the courts quashed the housing policies of a NDP that had passed examination, referendum and had been adopted by the council.

While the majority are behind their NDPs, some groups have found that developing a NDP exposes the fault lines in their communities. Some plans haven’t made it past the examiner due to a lack of evidence supporting their policies. And although there has yet to be a NDP that hasn’t achieved the required 50% vote at referendum, some have come close to failing, Overton in Hampshire only polling 53% in favour in June this year.

The future

Despite teething problems and initial scepticism, NDPs have been embraced by many communities across England. Post-Brexit, the new regime at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has signalled the government’s continuing support for neighbourhood planning, illustrated by last week’s decision by the Secretary of State to overrule his Inspector in dismissing an appeal in Yapton, West Sussex almost wholly on the grounds that the scheme did not comply with the village’s NDP.

Whilst the support from on high might well continue, there remains uncertainty over the longevity of neighbourhood planning. The financial resources, likely developer challenge and the sheer time and effort involved mean it won’t be something all communities want to embark upon; they’ve had five years to decide, surely most of those looking to do it would have probably done it by now.