Neighbourhood plans could be closely integrated to London's Opportunity Area Planning Framework areas, says London Assembly

The London Assembly's Planning and Housing Committee’s report makes recommendations to the Mayor that are intended to help incorporate neighbourhood plans within the existing planning hierarchy, and to boroughs to help them support community groups despite the pressure on resources.

Stakeholders told the Committee that Neighbourhood plans, which allow local communities to draw up their own development plans "could be closely integrated" with OAPFs.

OAPFs set out a planning framework for areas in London that the Government has identified as having opportunities for accommodating large scale development.

The Committee called on the Mayor to set out in his Supplementary Planning Guidance how neighbourhood plans should be incorporated within the existing planning hierarchy. This should include information on how to set up a neighbourhood planning network to encourage exploratory work and the sharing of best practice, the Committee said.

The integration of neighbourhood plans with OAPFs could also ease the stretch on resources that neighbourhood plans can cause, the Committee said. Stakeholders said that neighbourhood plans could be funded by rebudgeting an OAPF, rather than having to find extra money, the Committee said.

The budgets for OAPFs tend to be several times  those of any of the piloted neighbourhood plans. The Committee has requested that the Local Government Association issue guidance on the role local councillors could play in supporting community groups. 

Neighbourhood planning groups may find it effective to influence the Local Development Frameworks, the Committee said, which could be achieved by effectively engaging with their local borough.

To ensure success, the Committee offered three issues which it believes neighbourhood planning groups need to gain credibility for their group and secure a greater chance of success.

Firstly, legitimacy is needed to ensure the plan is truly representative of local people, and in the process local authorities apply to considering it, it said. Secondly, it said, groups need to realistically assess their strengths and weaknesses in areas like knowledge of the planning process, communication skills and leadership.

Thirdly, the Committee said, groups must also demonstrate they have effective support, from the Mayor, borough planners and ward councillors. Relationships with other neighbourhood planning bodies also have value, the Committee said.

The report was based on in-depth consultation with groups who are already developing neighbourhood plans, and aims to capture the challenges of defining neighbourhoods and making plans a reality in London, the Committee said.

“It’s clear that while the Localism Act’s intentions are good, putting them into practice will require true grit. Londoners may be overwhelmed by the challenges of trying to squeeze their local aspirations into an already complex and crowded planning system unless proper space is created for them," said Jenny Jones AM, chair of the Planning and Housing Committee.

“With a change of approach – and mindset - within the current planning regime we believe communities’ efforts to truly shape the way their neighbourhoods develop can bear fruit," she said.

"How neighbourhood plan formulation relates to the formulation of OAPFs is key for the success of many OAPFs coming forward," said planning law expert Richard Ford of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. "There are many landowners and developers, for example within the Vauxhall and Nine Elms Opportunity Area, who are pressing for early resolution of this issue. GLA officers need to respond swiftly."

The report will be considered for formal agreement at the Committee’s meeting on 13 March 2012.