Since the community right to neighbourhood planning was introduced, as part the government’s Localism Act, over 500 locations in England have produced neighbourhood plans.
The majority of these are residential, but a number of plans focus on commercial areas as a means of establishing planning policies for the development of land in a neighbourhood and influencing where new offices, shops and other properties should be built.
The planning reform also allows communities to have a say on the design of buildings and what infrastructure is needed to support the schemes.
In areas with town or parish councils, these bodies will usually take the lead in preparing a neighbourhood plan. Elsewhere community groups or newly formed groups involving landowners, developers and businesses might take responsibility, with the local planning authority obliged by law to support the groups.
Granting communities a voice in the planning process, the government believes, is essential in order to boost economic growth, improve the local quality of life and to conserve the natural environment.
One neighbourhood plan, submitted to Milton Keynes Council, proposes a mixed use development, focusing on housing alongside substantial office and retail space, to be built over the next 15 years.
The group behind the plan – the CMK Alliance – claims that the development will enhance the role of Milton Keynes as an emerging regional centre and raise the profile of the town both nationally and internationally.
The draft plan underwent independent examination earlier this month and will now face a local referendum before approval.
RICS reports that, based on the Milton Keynes model, neighbourhood planning is benefitting from extensive experience from within the planning, development and property sectors which are beginning to realise that these plans can be “powerful tools” in allocating land for development and shaping its future.
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