Approaches to community-led planning

Transcription

1 Approaches to community-led planning Make your voice heard in the planning process The Localism Act has introduced a new right for communities to draw up a Neighbourhood Development Plan (neighbourhood plan for short). These are plans developed by communities that if adopted become statutory planning policy. Put simply, if your local community and council accept and adopt a neighbourhood plan, developments in your area will need to conform to it and be judged against it. This guidance is aimed at providing you with an understanding of neighbourhood planning, and at what stages your community s objectives for a low carbon future might be best inputted. It also looks at other types of community plans so you can understand the differences and make an informed decision on what is appropriate for your community. Before getting started Before getting started you should ask yourselves the following questions: What plans already exist for your area, and could they deliver your objectives? Check your area s local plan and any existing parish/town plans to see if these could deliver your objectives. There could be a chance to influence these if they haven t yet been formally adopted (see our

2 separate resource on The Local Plan and engaging with your local council ). Alternatively, maybe they could be strengthened with a low carbon strategy, or an action plan to support your community group s activities and the activity of others? If you do not want to shape all new development in your area, responding to individual planning applications and engaging your community with a softer strategy or action plan could achieve your objectives with less time and effort. Is there a plan being developed already that you could influence? It is worth finding out whether there is already a neighbourhood plan being developed in your area by checking with your local parish or town council, as you would not want to replicate any hard work already being done. Your local council should also know of community planning activity happening in other areas nearby that could support your activities. There may still be the opportunity to influence your local plan or other planning documents for the wider area (if these are in the process of being developed, as they will need to be subject to public consultation). Does your community have the desire, resources and capacity to develop a plan? If existing plans will not deliver your objectives and there is currently no plan being developed, is there the human resource and desire in your area to develop one? Check with other community groups, your town/parish council and local authority on whether there are people with an interest in developing a plan and whether there are any resources to help the process. It may be that your local authority will offer more or less support depending on the characteristics of your area (e.g. levels of deprivation). Neighbourhood development plans A neighbourhood plan should promote appropriate development rather than block growth. It must be in line with your local plan and the National Planning Policy Framework so should be broadly supportive of low carbon initiatives such as renewable energy. Because a neighbourhood plan has statutory status, an evidence base is required to justify its proposed policies, including evidence of community consultation and support. The neighbourhood planning process is led by the parish or town council, or by a neighbourhood forum in urban areas. A neighbourhood forum must have a minimum of 21 members who, live in or democratically represent your community (i.e. an elected councillor). It must also have a written constitution with the purpose of promoting or improving the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of your area. The Locality Neighbourhood Plans Roadmap Guide provides a clear overview of the neighbourhood planning process and a step-by-step guide and process map. See There are several stages within neighbourhood planning where low carbon and sustainable energy can be embedded: 1 Low carbon as a theme: When talking about options, aims and themes at the early stages of the process, you can ensure your community s neighbourhood planning group are aware of the benefits of, and opportunities for, low carbon and sustainable development and embed this as a theme

3 preferably as a cross-cutting theme, so that each policy area seeks to encourage a low carbon approach. For instance, housing, open spaces and transport could all have low carbon policies within them. This will require you to engage with your local planning group and potentially demonstrate support from the wider community for this to be an element of the plan. 2 Low carbon opportunities for your area building the evidence base: Before writing the plan, groups will need to understand what opportunities there are for low carbon developments in the neighbourhood. There may be existing evidence you are aware of that you can use to engage your community on low carbon opportunities. For instance, your local council may have done renewable energy resource assessments, or you could develop new evidence. Your local council may have mapped renewable energy opportunities, which couldbe used to inform the setting of your neighbourhood area. If you want to develop your own evidence or estimate the potential of renewable energy or energy efficiency, see the PlanLoCaL resources on technical potential and evidence. Community consultation and drafting the plan: Once your neighbourhood planning group understands the opportunities, the next stage will be to carry out some initial consultation to see which low carbon opportunities are supported by the wider community. By carrying out consultations on policies you are able to demonstrate there is technical potential and local demand for that type of policy. See the PlanLoCaL resources: Community engagement in plan-making and What sort of change could a plan deliver?. Community engagement should be at the heart of all stages of the neighbourhood planning process. It can be used to help ensure your community s values are embedded within the process, to engage the community in the wording of draft policies, and to ensure there is sufficient community support for the plan s adoption. For more guidance on this, see the PlanLoCaL resource Community engagement in planmaking. Different plans for different needs The neighbourhood planning process is new, with powers introduced in April 2012 to allow the formal start of neighbourhood planning. The first neighbourhood plan was successfully adopted on 7 March 2013 in Upper Eden, Cumbria, but activity within this community started back in There are other types of community plans that could meet your needs as shown in the table overleaf.

4 Type of plan Action plan or strategy Parish plan or town plan Neighbourhood plan Brief description A plan or strategy not recognised within the planning system. These can be quite specific, for instance your group could have a local energy plan capturing projects you take part in. Often these are already in existence and typically are an action plan. Can be adopted by the local authority as a material planning consideration. In many cases, they are periodically reviewed with updated actions. Whilst they can include actions, their format has been developed to allow communities the opportunity to shape development in their area. Once adopted, they are a statutory planning policy document Led by Typical time and costs needed to develop Timescales covered Self-defined 1-6 months 0 if voluntary time (Self-defined, depends on the scope of what you wish to achieve) Parish council or town council months 1,000-4,000 (much of the cost is in engaging the community via questionnaires, community events, etc.) Parish council, town council or neighbourhood forum 1 year years 5-20 years months 10, ,000 (costs vary depending on scope and size of plan) Area covered Self-defined, if defined at all. As these are not statutory it can be best not to restrict your areas of operation Parish or town council area Self-defined but must be agreed by local authority. Can be several parishes/town councils, or an area smaller than a single parish Useful for Developing grass-roots action without requiring you to work with your local parish/town council or wider community Developing an action plan and defining your community s vision; engaging with your local council, but without refining the local approach to planning This approach may require the highest level of resource, but it allows your community to shape how the local council planning policies are delivered in your area Neighbourhood Development Orders A Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO) is very similar to a neighbourhood plan, but is used to permit certain types of development so that they do not require planning permission. As with a plan it must be developed by the parish or town council, or a neighbourhood forum.

5 As at May 2013, no NDOs had yet been adopted, but it is thought they will be formed when a community feels that permitting certain types of development is better suited to their needs, or it may be a next step for communities who have adopted a neighbourhood plan. NDOs could be used to permit certain types of renewable energy installation where they fall outside of national permitted development rights, e.g. consulting with a conservation area s guardian to permit appropriate solar installations. For more information on permitted development rights see: If NDOs are permitting other types of development it could be an opportunity to ensure this development is built to a high sustainable construction standard or incorporates a certain level of renewable energy contribution. In other words, if homes were to be built in an allocated site without requiring planning permission your community could ensure they are low carbon exemplars. Other sources of information Locality is the lead organisation in a national consortium providing support to neighbourhood planning groups in They have a range of useful resources including the Neighbourhood Planning Roadmap & Roadmap Worksheets: Locality also runs the Community Knowledge Hub, an online forum and resources library for all elements of localism, including information on how to legally constitute a neighbourhood forum and the costs associated with the process: A map of neighbourhood planning groups and which stage of the process they have reached split between different local authority areas can be found here: Planning Aid England, part of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), has developed several useful resources and is also part of the consortium providing future neighbourhood planning support. The Handy Guide to Planning 2012 for example provides a useful overview to the different levels of planning: Energy Descent Action Plans are a method of community action planning developed by the Transition Network: