Amending council's Local Plan is better than a Neighbourhood Plan, says London Forum

This could make responding to local planning authority proposals "speedier and more authoritative", said Michael Bach, who gave the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) presentation at the London Forum National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Localism Act discussion.

It was noted that a Neighbourhood Plan could have particular value when it covered contiguous areas of more than one borough, as "it could help to ensure consistency," Bach said to the London Forum, a group of Amenity and Civic Societies which represents over 100 local services across London with more than 100,000 members.

Bach gave MP Steven Hammond's DCLG presentation on his behalf, as Hammond was unable to give the presentation. Bach is chairman of the planning and transport committee at London Forum of Amenity and Civic Society and is also chairman of the planning committee at the Kensington Society.  

Some borough councils had defined 'neighbourhoods' with boundaries that local people could not accept as correct, said Bach, according to his presentation notes that were published on a blog.

During the presentation it was acknowledged that the "prime need" is for there to be a robust Local Plan in place, to prevent decisions from falling solely to the NPPF. However, it was suggested that a Neighbourhood Plan isn't the only way to ensure that local views are taken into account by local planning authorities.

Neighbourhoods could seek to amend provisions in their Council’s Local Plan, that embody their wishes, through a neighbourhood planning approach, rather than embark on the statutory neighbourhood planning procedures of a full-blown Neighbourhood Plan," Bach said.

Neighbourhoods could respond to local planning authority proposals in a "speedier and more authoritative" way, using a Neighbourhood Forum, said Bach.

"If a council was happy with a proposal for a Neighbourhood Forum (e.g. was clear that the proposal had broad backing) it was required to support it," said Bach. "The Neighbourhood Forum could then decide what they wanted to produce, which could be a proposal that [the] Council could adopt without the Forum having to take it through the examination and referendum themselves."

When asked whether a council would be required to hold a local referendum before adopting proposals put forward by a Neighbourhood Forum, Bach said the answer was no, unless the council was not prepared to adopt the proposal.

 "A Neighbourhood Forum can also be used to pre-empt other interests from trying to establish one," said Bach.