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Neighbourhood Planning

Document Cited authorities 32 Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorWilliam Webster
Pages65-79

Chapter 3

Neighbourhood Planning

INTRODUCTION

3.1 The neighbourhood planning system was introduced by the Localism Act 2011 (LA 2011).1Its function is to give communities a much stronger say in shaping development and growth within their local areas. This is because a neighbourhood plan forms part of the local development plan and sits alongside the local plan prepared by the local planning authority (LPA). It means that decisions on planning applications will be made using both the local plan and the neighbourhood plan, in conjunction with any other material considerations.

3.2 Neighbourhood planning: (a) allows local communities to set planning policies through a neighbourhood plan that will be used in the determination of planning applications by the LPA; and (b) facilitates the grant of planning permission for specific development through a neighbourhood development order within a particular neighbourhood area.

3.3 Neighbourhood planning is not a legal requirement but a right which communities in England can choose to use (unless they decide that they could achieve the outcomes they want to see through other planning routes, such as incorporating their proposals for their neighbourhood into the local plan).

3.4 Neighbourhood planning is becoming very popular. As at 3/8/2017, a total of 328 neighbourhood plans had been adopted in England.

1LA 2011, Pt 5, Ch 3 and Schs 9–11. Schedule 9 inserts new sections into the TCPA 1990 at ss

61E–61Q. Schedules 10 and 11 also insert new Schs 4B and 4C into the same Act. These sections allow for planning permission to be granted through neighbourhood development orders. Schedule 9, Pt 2 amends PCPA 2004 to provide for a neighbourhood development plan. The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/637) provide for procedural matters in connection with neighbourhood planning.

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3.5 To help deliver neighbourhood plans, communities drawing up a neighbourhood plan or order which secures the consent of local people in a referendum will benefit from 25% of the revenues from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) arising from the development that takes place in their area.2

3.6 It is also worth noting that the National Planning Policy Framework 2012 (NPPF)3says that LPAs should:

take a proactive and positive approach to proposals (for neighbourhood development orders and community right to build orders), working collaboratively with community organisations to resolve any issues before draft orders are submitted for examination. Policies (in the NPPF) that relate to decision-taking should be read as applying to the consideration of proposed neighbourhood development orders, whenever this is appropriate given the context and relevant legislation.

NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT ORDERS

3.7 A neighbourhood development order can grant planning permission for specific types of development in a specific neighbourhood area.4Any qualifying body5may initiate the process to require an LPA (in England) to make a

2Parish and town councils (which are parish councils serving a town which have the same powers, duties and status as parish councils) are the lowest tier of local government. The funding for parish councils is allocated by the district council and is called an annual precept. The income and expenditure for the next financial year are calculated in the form of estimates, and this amount is added to the local council tax and is then returned to the parishes in two yearly instalments. They can also apply for UK grants and EU money. Receipts of levy from CIL therefore represent significant additional revenue for smaller parish councils which have allocations for significant residential development within their neighbourhood plan areas. There is therefore a tension between LPAs and parishes in those cases where the former seek to adjust neighbourhood area boundaries in order to secure levy for themselves in the case of large developments which they consider are functionally part of their areas and inappropriate to be included within the neighbourhood plan area. For instance, in February 2017, a Cheshire LPA amended a parish council’s proposed neighbourhood plan area to exclude a new garden village. The parish was expected to earn an estimated £2.5 million in CIL payments from the garden village.

3At para 202.

4TCPA 1990, s 61E(2). A ‘neighbourhood area’ is defined in s 61G as an area which has been designated as such by an LPA on the application of a parish council or neighbourhood forum. See fn 1 for regulations dealing with procedures involved on applications for the designation of neighbourhood areas by qualifying bodies.

5TCPA 1990, s 61E(6). A ‘qualifying body’ means a parish council, or an organisation or body designated as a neighbourhood forum, authorised to act in relation to a ‘neighbourhood area’ (the meaning of this expression will be found in s 61G) as a result of TCPA 1990, s 61F. The LPA has a discretion to designate an organisation or body as a neighbourhood forum if it is satisfied that it meets the conditions laid down in s 61F(5) and (6), namely: (a) if the organisation or body is established for the express purpose of promoting or improving the social, economic and

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neighbourhood development order. An LPA to whom a proposal for the making of a neighbourhood development has been made must make the order as soon as reasonably practicable after a referendum has been held where more than half those voting have voted in favour of the order.6

Authority to initiate the process

3.8 Only a parish council is authorised to act in relation to a neighbourhood area if the area includes the whole or any part of the area of the council.7If that area also includes the area of another parish council then the parish council is only authorised to act if the other parish council for the neighbourhood area has given its consent.8

3.9 In areas where there is no parish council only an organisation or body which has been designated by the LPA as a neighbourhood forum for the neighbourhood area may put forward proposals.9In determining an application the LPA must have regard to the desirability of designating the whole of the area of the parish council as a neighbourhood area; and the desirability of maintaining the existing boundaries of areas already designated as neighbourhood areas. In practice, neighbourhood areas will usually follow the boundaries of existing parish councils unless the LPA considers that some other area would be more appropriate. Once an LPA designates an area as a neighbourhood area it must publicise this fact on its website and in such other manner it considers appropriate in order to bring the designation to the attention of those who live, work and carry


environmental wellbeing of an area that consists of or includes the neighbourhood area concerned;
(b) its membership is open to individuals who live or work within the neighbourhood area concerned and individuals who are elected members of a county council or London borough any of whose area falls within the neighbourhood area; (c) its membership includes a minimum of 21 individuals, each of whom lives or works in the neighbourhood area or is an elected member of a county council, district council or London borough whose area falls within the neighbourhood area concerned; (d) it has a written constitution. A designation ceases to have effect after five years (s 61F(8)). The LPA may also withdraw an organisation or body’s designation (s 61F(9)). Regulations concerning the process to be followed concerning the designation of neighbourhood areas can be found in Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, Pt 2. Regulations concerning the process to be followed concerning the designation of neighbourhood forums can be found in Pt 3. The above 2012 Regulations have been subject to amendments by the Neighbourhood Planning (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/20) and the Neighbourhood Planning (General) and Development Management Procedure (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/873). The meaning and relationship between s 61F (authorisation to act in relation to neighbourhood areas) and s 61G (the meaning of a neighbourhood area) was considered in R (Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum) v Wycombe District Council [2014] EWCA Civ 228.

6TCPA 1990, s 61E(4).

7TCPA 1990, s 61F(1).

8TCPA 1990, s 61F(2).

9TCPA 1990, s 61F(3)–(7).

68 Planning Law: A Practitioner’s Handbook

on business in the area. If, however, it refuses to designate a neighbourhood area then it must similarly publicise this fact to people living and working in the area. The LPA must also give reasons for its refusal and make the document setting out its reasons available for public inspection.10The LPA should also consider whether it should designate the area as a ‘business area’ where it considers that the area is wholly or predominantly business in nature.11

Contents of a neighbourhood development order

3.10 There is a wide ambit to what the order can do. It can grant planning permission (with or without conditions or limitations)12in relation to some or all of the land in the neighbourhood area13although it cannot grant planning permission for excluded development14which includes: (a) county matters (waste and minerals); (b) development falling within the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 201715which revoked the 2011 Regulations (EIA Regulations 2017); (c) development consisting of a nationally significant infrastructure project (within the meaning of the Planning Act 2008);
(d) prescribed development or development of a prescribed description; and (e) development within a prescribed area or an area of prescribed description.16

Process of...

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