Neighbourhood Plan

The residents of Granborough are creating a Neighbourhood Planand this needs the involvement of everyone in the village.

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

• Neighbourhood planning gives communities direct power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and to shape the development and growth of their local area. It arises out of the Localism Act 2012 which introduced the ability for parish and town councils to produce plans which will form part of the policies used to make decisions on planning applications.
• Neighbourhood planning is not a legal requirement but a right which communities in England can choose to use.
• A Neighbourhood Plan is a document that sets out planning policies for the neighbourhood area – planning policies are used to decide whether to approve planning applications.
• The document is written by the local community, the people who know and love the area, rather than the Local Planning Authority.
• It is a powerful tool which will, as far as possible, ensure the community gets the right types of development, in the right place.

What are the benefits of developing a Neighbourhood Plan?

• Developing a Neighbourhood Plan provides the opportunity for communities to set out a positive vision for how they want their community to develop over the next 10, 15 and 20 years in ways that meet identified local need and make sense for local people. They can propose planning policies that will help deliver that vision or grant planning permission for the development they want to see
• It can bring together residents, businesses, local groups, landowners and developers to share ideas and build consensus about what needs to be accomplished in the area.
• It can help locally-specific planning issues to be addressed, giving greater detail compared to those within district-wide development plans
• Unlike the parish, village or town plans that communities may have prepared (Granborough prepared a plan in 2012) a Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the development plan and sits alongside the Local Plan prepared by the local planning authority, in our case, the AVDC.

What is the process for developing a Neighbourhood Plan?

There are four main steps to creating a Neighbourhood Plan:

1. Getting set up and deciding on the neighbourhood area
2. Consulting with the community and gathering evidence
3. Writing and submitting the Plan for scrutiny
4. Agreeing its content by local referendum