Neighbourhood Planning is a positive tool that you and your communities can use to shape development in your community by setting planning policies for a given area. You can find out more about Neighbourhood Planning and the process in the Vale's guidance document by clicking here.. The District Council supports Neighbourhood Planning and can offer the following support to help you produce your neighbourhood plan:
- initial advice and an introductory meeting to explain the process
- advice on an appropriate consultation strategy and how consultation should be recorded
- advice on the evidence needed to prepare the plan and details of statutory consultees
- a ‘critical friend’ role throughout the drafting of the plan, attending steering group meetings where necessary to provide advice and support
- reviewing draft documents to ensure they meet the basic conditions
- support for publicity that you may wish to carry-out
- funding for towns, larger villages and smaller villages
- advice and support dealing with the media and publicising your work.
If you would like to find out more about getting started, please contact our dedicated Neighbourhood Planning Officer. The first step in considering whether to produce a Neighbourhood Development Plan is to think about the important issues in your local area and how you might address them in broad terms. There is no requirement to produce a Neighbourhood Development Plan and other options are available to communities. Where town/parish councils do not wish to focus on development but want to examine a wider range of issues then a Community Led Plan might be more appropriate. Many communities in the Vale have already produced a Community Led Plan or are in the process of doing so. You can find out more about Community Led Planning here.