Neighbourhood Plans

Neighbourhood planning was introduced through the Localism Act 2011, and enables local communities to shape development and growth in their area through the production of a neighbourhood development plan, a neighbourhood development order, or a community right to build order.

A neighbourhood plan covers a geographic area and can be taken forward by town and parish councils or 'neighbourhood forums'. It will be the role of the local planning authority to agree who should be the neighbourhood. A neighbourhood plan, if adopted, becomes part of the statutory development plan for that area and will be used in determining planning applications.

Summary table of neighbourhood plan progress

This table provides a brief visual summary of the progress made on each neighbourhood plan in the borough.
Neighbourhood area	Designated area	Regulation 14	Regulation 16	Examination	Referendum	Adoption
Aldington and Bonnington	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Bethersden	✓
Boughton Aluph and Eastwell	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Charing	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Egerton	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Hothfield	✓
Pluckley	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Smarden	✓
Rolvenden	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Tenterden	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Wye	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Table key

✓ - completed stage
~ - stage in progress
Regulation 14 - pre-submission version of the neighbourhood plan
Regulation 16 - submission version of the neighbourhood plan

Neighbourhood Planning Process

For more information about the neighbourhood planning process from designation to adoption, please view the Locality roadmap on neighbourhood planning. Locality are an organisation that advise, help fund, and provide guidance on neighbourhood planning. Their roadmap is a plain English, step-by-step guide to the process and is very useful.

The neighbourhood plan regulations were published in 2012, and can be found on the government's website. The government have also published additional information about what neighbourhood planning is.

If you are a parish council or community group considering undertaking a neighbourhood plan in your area, contact the Local Plans team for some advice on the process of designation.

Neighbourhood Planning Protocol

The Council has created a neighbourhood planning protocol to assist local communities preparing neighbourhood plans. The protocol explains each of the steps of the neighbourhood plan process, including the assistance the Council can provide to neighbourhood plan groups.

View the Neighbourhood Planning Protocol [pdf] 652KB

For any queries about the neighbourhood plan process or protocol, please contact the Spatial Planning Team.

Further Advice and Guidance

There are also number of organisations that can give advice to communities considering carrying out a neighbourhood plan. Please see a selection of these below (there are others too):

Locality (Main support for neighbourhood plan groups and grant funding)

Locality's Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in Planning Programme helps local groups develop neighbourhood plans, provide support, guidance and funding.

Historic England

Useful guidance for Neighbourhood Plans which have heritage assets within them is Historic England's advice.

Rural Services Network – Sparse

Rural Services Network provides a selection of key datasets from the Census 2011 and ASHE as well as providing analysis that may be useful for communities, enabling them to compare themselves against other rural authorities to provide some context. The information is available by parish, which enables community groups to view information at a relatively local level.

Visit Rural Services Network – neighbourhood planning

RTPI Planning Aid

Planning Aid England (PAE) helps communities through the key stages of the Neighbourhood Planning process under the Supporting Communities in Neighbourhood Planning 2013-15 initiative. PAE works directly with neighbourhood planning groups to provide support, advice and professional input to the plans being prepared by those communities.

Visit RTPI – neighbourhood planning

Prince's Foundation

The Prince's Foundation can provide hands-on help with Neighbourhood Planning, including:

Community outreach and engagement
Facilitating / running collaborative planning and decision making events
Drafting of Neighbourhood Plans
Carrying out sustainability appraisals where requested by local authorities
Facilitating joint working between neighbourhood bodies, their local planning authorities and other key stakeholders (including developers and landowners)
Providing extra project management capacity
Demonstrating compliance with NPPF and local plans / core strategies

Visit Prince's Foundation – neighbourhood planning

ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England)

ACRE is the national umbrella body of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN), which operates at national, regional and local level in support of rural communities across the country.

A national toolkit produced by ACRE, is used by RCAN practitioners to guide community groups through the LEAD process. Nine steps are outlined, each providing practical advice and resources that help to make the production of any plan a manageable endeavour.

Visit the ACRE website for more information.