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What is Neighbourhood Planning?
Neighbourhood planning was introduced by the Localism Act in November 2011. It is a way for communities to decide the future of the places where they live and work. It enables local communities to have more say in where new houses, businesses, shops and community facilities should go in their local area and can allocate sites for development. They may also include more detailed planning policies, for example to define how new development should look.
Our Neighbourhood Plan must contain policies which are in line with Basingstoke and Deane Council’s borough wide plan and national planning guidance.
Local communities can not use neighbourhood plans to reduce the amount of development identified for their areas in the borough wide plan – but they can propose more. A Neighbourhood Plan will have significant weight in the planning process and determination of planning applications in the area.
Why have a Neighbourhood Plan?
With a Neighbourhood Plan, communities establish general planning policies for the development of land in a neighbourhood.
Part of a Neighbourhood Plan could include a Neighbourhood Development Order. A Neighbourhood Development Order means that communities can allow new homes and offices to be built without the developers having to apply for separate planning permission.
Why a Neighbourhood Plan for East Woodhay Parish?
Our Parish lies within Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, but it is very different in character to Basingstoke, the main settlement in the Borough. The Parish Council have decided that it is in the best interests of the Parish to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan. Our Neighbourhood Plan will determine the nature and locations of development within and in support of the communities of the Parish and become our locally-owned aspect of the Basingstoke & Deane Local Plan.
Unlike the Village Design Statement or the Parish Plan, the East Woodhay Neighbourhood Plan will, when approved, become a legally binding document to be taken into account when a planning issue arises. Recent national examples show that Neighbourhood Plans have real weight in decision making.
