The Neighbourhood Planning Bill, introduced in September, is the most recent instalment in the government’s push to deliver one million new homes. Originally announced as the Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill, it is hoped that the Bill will complement the government’s wider agenda of boosting housebuilding and granting more autonomy to local communities.

Having dropped the controversial plans to privatise the Land Registry, the Bill in its current form focuses on three main issues: Neighbourhood Planning, Compulsory Purchase Orders and planning conditions. It seeks to incentivise housebuilding by preventing planning authorities from imposing onerous conditions on developers, and clarifies the duties of local authorities with regards to CPOs. The most interesting changes – to Neighbourhood Planning- are discussed below.

The purpose of neighbourhood planning is to ensure that communities are able to shape development in their area. The Bill seeks to strengthen this. It clarifies the duty on decision-makers to take NDPs into account; it simplifies the procedure for amending an NDP; and it bolsters the duties on local authorities to show how they are taking NDPs into account. Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell said the Bill “puts power in the hands of local people to decide where development gets built.”

These changes aim to consolidate the progress already made. Uptake has been mixed so far: recent figures released by DCLG reveal that 2,000 communities across the country are now actively engaged in neighbourhood planning. However, of those areas, just 238 have held referenda. Average turn-out lingers at 33%.  

Barwell hopes that the Bill should clarify the procedures and duties in place, bolster community uptake and create more flexibility in meeting housing needs. But it remains to be seen whether he can address the real obstacles with Neighbourhood Planning; delay, bureaucratic inefficiencies and asymmetrical uptake. There may already be plans to address the latter: speaking at a Conservative Party Conference fringe event organised by think-tank ResPublica, Barwell commented:

“The real challenge is to make sure neighbourhood planning is adopted uniformly across the country, so deprived communities make use of it as much as more affluent areas. That’s something I’m looking at at the moment."

The long-term purpose of the Bill is to ensure that planning authorities and developers pay closer attention to both made and emerging NDPs. At this stage, it’s hard to know how far this will go. However, there are signs that efforts are already underway: in September Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid blocked appeals for three different housing developments, citing conflict with each area’s Neighbourhood Plan as a reason behind the decision in each case. The Bill will take this one step further by clarifying the duties on local authorities to consider NDPs. Ultimately, this will engage communities more directly and make it easier to hold authorities to account. If passed, planning authorities and developers may find themselves having to step up their community engagement efforts when bringing forward proposals for new development.

Newington has significant experience of successfully carrying out stakeholder and community engagement on behalf of our clients. If you wish to discuss how the Bill may impact you and your business, or if you would like to explore further how we may be able to assist, please do contact Phil Briscoe on 0207234 3345 or [email protected].