Community Plans

The details below are taken from the Basingstoke & Dean web site page on Community Led Plans at the following web address:

https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/rte.aspx?id=347

The council encourages all local communities to get involved in shaping their local areas and is supporting communities to develop their own community plans.

What is a community plan?

A community plan sets out how local residents would like to see their local area change in the future. It sets out:

• a long term vision for the community, developed by the community - describing the sort of place it would wish to be and look like
• the important issues to tackle, that reflect the needs of that particular community
• short term goals and actions

Why have a community plan?

Community plans play a crucial role in influencing local councils and service providers. They provide evidence of the type of things that people want in their communities and what they see as important.

Community plans can:

• bring the community together and generate community spirit and community actions
• provide clear evidence of community aspirations and priorities
• provide a plan for the future that service providers know is based on wide community involvement and can use to shape their services to meet local need
• help access funding streams for projects - as community plans can provide strong evidence of need to support grant applications.
• encourage partnership working by highlighting projects that need help from the community itself or from external agencies.

What is involved?

There are several steps to work through to ensure that any plan is based on the needs and views of the future from the whole community. These include:

• setting up a steering group
• consulting with the community to get views from as many people as possible
• identifying priorities
• developing an action plan that involves the local community and service providers.

Advice is available from the Community Investment Team. They have good contacts and experience and can provide practical support to take groups through the different steps. For further information email community.development@basingstoke.gov.uk or phone 01256 845282.

Some initial information is also available at Guidance and grants.

Other community plans

Neighbourhood development orders (NDOs) will grant planning permission for a particular type of development in a particular area. This could be either a particular development, or a particular class of development (for example retail or housing).

A number of types of development will be excluded from NDOs, however. These are:

• minerals and waste development
• types of development that, regardless of scale, always need Environmental Impact Assessment
• Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

The Localism Act also includes powers to allow regulations to exclude certain types of development from Neighbourhood Development Orders, or certain areas from Neighbourhood Development Order projects.

It could be useful for NDOs to be linked to the Neighbourhood Development Plan for the area. For example, the plan could identify the need for a new village shop and a broad location. The NDO could then apply a planning permission to a particular site or existing building where the shop will be built.

More details can be found at:

https://www.planninghelp.cpre.org.uk/planning-explained/neighbourhood-planning/neighbourhood-development-orders

Neighbourhood Plans
Neighbourhood planning, introduced by the Localism Act 2011, is a way for communities to be involved in land-use planning decisions in their area. They enable local communities to have more say in where new houses, businesses, shops and community facilities should go in their local area and will allocate sites for development. They may also include more detailed planning policies for example to define how new development should look.

For more information click on the following link: Neighbourhood Plans

Village Design Statements
A Village or Town Design Statement (VDS) is a practical tool to help influence decisions on design and development. They provide a clear statement of the character of a particular village or town against which planning applications may be assessed.

For more information click on the following link: Village Design Statements

To be eligible to develop a Community Right to Build Order in a particular neighbourhood area at least one half of a community organisation's members must live in that neighbourhood area. The organisation must also exist to further the economic, environmental and social well-being of the area in question, and any profits made as a result of Community Right to Build Orders must be used for the good of that community, not for private gain.

Development brought about by Community Right to Build Orders is likely to be small scale, and will not be able to take place if it would need an Environmental Impact Assessment or would be on a European designated site, for example a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Community Right to Build Orders will be adopted in the same way as NDOs, where subject to the Order meeting certain minimum standards a local referendum will ultimately decide whether the proposed development should go ahead.

Further reading

Shape your local area

Which type of plan is right for you?

This depends on what the local communities wants to achieve. Community plans have a wider remit and seek to tackle a range of social, economic and environmental issues. Neighbourhood Plans have a more regulated process, focus on planning issues. It may be that a combination of the plans is the best approach, however having a clear vision for the future of the community is a good starting point.

For further information - please contact the community planning officer by email community.development@basingstoke.gov.uk or telephone 01256 844844.