The end of Neighbourhood Plans?
Well, not literally the end. Not yet, anyway. But the end of the beginning, that’s for sure.
Now this Government loves neighbourhood plans. We know all about that. Only yesterday, it was waxing lyrical about how we now have over 1,000 of the blighters. Neighbourhood plans are now one of the few big legacies of the 2011 reforms which aren’t either:
For the chop (here’s looking at you, duty to cooperate);
Soon to be totally reversed (why there you are, abolition of top-down housing numbers); or
Likely to be transformed before long (take a seat, abolition of strategic planning).
Also yesterday, the Government published this. A University of Reading report on the impacts of neighbourhood plans. Exhaustively researched. Fascinating. A few of the key conclusions are that:
Neighbourhood planning’s contribution to housing supply can be significant through allocations.
Neighbourhood plans have helped improve design policy and refined local priorities.
Apparently, the evidence from LPAs and appeals indicates NPs do have an influential role in decisions (I can testify to that one).
But here’s a point in that Reading report which got me. On the theme of “community attitudes and engagement” - why do so many folks get involved with this process at all - the report notes that:
“Often allocation of sites is a motivator as it allows greater protection of other locally important spaces.”
I can testify to that one too. One of the key tools neighbourhood planners have to shape their area is allocations. That’s sort of the point isn’t it? We’ll designate the park as a local green space, the high street as a retail zone, the disused brownfield site for some houses, then we’ll indicate how many houses and what style. The power of Neighbourhood Plans - the special sauce that has elevated them over local design codes and the like - is that they’re legally part of the development plan, and they’re spatial. They get a statutory say in what goes where. And, of course, what doesn’t. That is power indeed.
Now, as die-hard #planoraks may remember, I think there are some serious legal problems with the neighbourhood planning regime (NB the Lochailort Investments case I was commenting on in that blog has since been partially overturned by the Court of Appeal). But there’s no doubt about it. As the Reading report argues, they have engaged lots of people in the process. Sometimes for the better. Not always. But engagement’s a prize worth fighting for - isn’t it?
So where does the Planning White Paper stand on all of this?
Well… it’s in a bit of a bind. Remember the big idea - to divvy up all of England into growth areas (more on them here), renewal areas and protection areas (more on those here). Well, that’s the point. We won’t be doing “allocations” any more. There’ll be zoning (or whatever you want to call it). That’s a job for local plans. Once the zoning’s done, there will - by definition - be no land left over. Nothing more to allocate. No more spatial planning to do.
So what role is left for Neighbourhood Plans? Might it be that the Ministry doesn’t really know yet?
The White Paper proposes to “retain” Neighbourhood Plans - albeit it’s open to discussion on that issue - see q. 13(a). Alright, so let’s assume we retain them: what are we actually going to do with them? On that, all we really get is at §2.56:
“we will want to consider whether their content should become more focused to reflect our proposals for Local Plans, as well as the opportunities which digital tools and data offer to support their development and improve accessibility for users. By making it easier to develop Neighbourhood Plans we wish to encourage their continued use and indeed to help spread their use further, particularly in towns and cities. We are also interested in whether there is scope to extend and adapt the concept so that very small areas – such as individual streets – can set their own rules for the form of development which they are happy to see.”
“More focussed”. Is that a euphemism I see before me? Re-read that paragraph carefully. Do you see any answers? I don’t. Not a one.
Which may explain q.13(b) - “How can the neighbourhood planning process be developed to meet our objectives…?”
Weren’t they supposed to be telling us that bit?
Here’s the quandary. Neighbourhood plans are very popular. So ditching them altogether, even if it were thought desirable, doesn’t fly. But the Government is proposing a new local planning system which takes away one of the key tools Neighbourhood planners have, i.e. spatial planning through allocations. And the Government doesn’t yet have any ideas how to square this circle. It’s asking us for ideas. And let me tell you, I’m stumped.
Of course the White Paper is very big on local design codes and pattern books. On defining what’s beautiful. As I said here, we’d better hope the local beauty contests don’t stifle innovation, variety, or the kind of everyday (if unexceptional) designs we’ll sometimes need to deliver schemes viably, and to get anywhere near that oft-repeated 300,000 homes annual target. Particularly in those areas - unlike leafy “Bath, Belgravia and Bournville” - where people may not have 10 times their income (or more) to spend on a house.
But anyway… there’s no doubt that Neighbourhood Plans can still have a big role in shaping local design. But when it comes to that central power - the spatial suite of allocations engrained into the statutory development plan. Well… if the house lights aren’t quite up yet, yesterday’s report may be the final curtain call.
That’s it from this blog on the brave new world of the Planning White Paper before the deadline for consultations closes. The posts on this most interesting and fiddly of topics are collated here. I hope you’ve found some of the ramblings useful in shaping your responses. If you’ve a spare hour for 1 last dash through the ideas, have a look at Steve Quartermain interviews Kitkat - both veterans of this blog. A very telling exchange which gives a brilliant insight - I think - on where we are.
Normal service - whatever that means - will be resumed next week. And I can go back to describing the system we’ve got at the moment. And not the one which may lie in wait just around the corner.
Stay well, #planoraks.
