Neighbourhood Planning
According to Government:
“Neighbourhood planning provides the opportunity for communities to set out a positive vision for how they want their community to develop over the next 10, 15, 20 years in ways that meet identified local need and make sense for local people. They can put in place planning policies that will help deliver that vision or grant planning permission for the development they want to see.”
“They are able to choose where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built, have their say on what those new buildings should look like and what infrastructure should be provided, and grant planning permission for the new buildings they want to see go ahead. Neighbourhood planning provides a powerful set of tools for local people to plan for the types of development to meet their community’s needs and where the ambition of the neighbourhood is aligned with the strategic needs and priorities of the wider local area.
The Pilot - Simpler Approach to Neighbourhood Planning
Neighbourhood Priority Statements
The Government is assessing whether a Simpler Approach to Neighbourhood Planning could deliver effective planning and other changes to all communities across the country, but specifically to inner-city communities. This is a key aspect of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda and is a real opportunity for the participating communities in Leeds to not only help make their neighbourhood better places to live, work and carry out business, but to influence national policy making in the process.
The pilot last for a year, until October 2023, and requires communities to produce a Neighbourhood Priorities Statement. Since communities may then go on to develop a Neighbourhood Plan, it is appropriate to consider the requirements for Neighbourhood Planning during the pilot.
Engaging communities
As with all plan-making, the project requires leadership. The Localism Act has allocated that role to designated Neighbourhood Forums. This carries significant responsibility in terms of producing a plan that is representative of the community. The way in which the process is led and implemented will need to secure confidence from the community in Harehills and those organisations and businesses that serve local needs. Confidence in the process and support for the outcomes will be more certain by starting this process in a demonstrably transparent way and continuing in that way through all stages of the plan. This is achieved through:
- Openly encouraging opinions and suggestions from all individuals and organisations within the Neighbourhood Plan area, whether or not these present challenging, conflicting or critical views of the Plan or process.
- Making every effort to understand all of the views expressed and responding to those in a timely and appropriate manner.
- Demonstrating, in an accessible way, how the emerging Neighbourhood Plan is reflective of the views expressed throughout the engagement process, and, where those views cannot form part of the legally ‘made’ Neighbourhood Plan, explaining why this is the case.
- Adhering to a Project Plan which will set out the stages of engagement, consultation, and policy writing throughout the plan-making period, and keeping this up to date.
- Providing built-in opportunities throughout the plan-making process for stakeholders and individuals to offer feedback.
The process
