Bosworth MP, Dr Luke Evans, led a Westminster Hall debate on the importance of Neighbourhood Plans and their relationship with Local Plans, raising the issue directly with the Housing Minister.
Neighbourhood plans, said Dr Luke, encourage local communities to have a say and assist in determining the development which occurs in a particular area.
Such plans can, once approved in a local referendum and adopted by the local planning authority, enable the community to take greater control over development in their area by allocating suitable sites themselves.
They act as the next best protection from speculative development when a local council doesn’t have an up-to-date Local Plan, a situation currently facing Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.
In Dr Luke’s constituency of Bosworth, many groups have come forward and are making a difference in the area by taking responsibility for local planning. For example, Markfield, Stoke Golding and Burbage are all at various stages of creating Neighbourhood Plans.
The vanguard community in Market Bosworth were one of the first in the country to devise a Neighbourhood Plan. Born of both a desire to do the best for their area and necessity, the plan was created in an effort to curb sprawling and speculative developments.
Unfortunately, persistent delays by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council in publishing and implementing an adequate up-to-date Local Plan has meant the area is open to speculative and piecemeal developments. Consequently, our area has an overstretched infrastructure and local groups have been forced to step in to ensure that development is sustainable and in line with local needs and priorities.
In the 90-minute debate, Dr Luke reiterated that “we need the right houses in the right place, with the right infrastructure and the right protections for our heritage and environment. If we do not get this right, we risk losing our vibrant, rural aspects to suburban sprawl, with no thought given to where it should be.”
“I am eternally grateful to the councils and individual constituents who have taken the time to go through what is, at times, a laborious, technical and painstaking process to try to get a result,” the Bosworth MP continued. “What infuriates them more than anything else is that this has been ridden roughshod over because we do not have an up-to-date Local Plan. With this in mind, we must find a way to try and strengthen Neighbourhood Plans.
“Planning is something which happens to us, and more often than not we become aware of it when it’s pressed on top of us. We need to ensure that when the system is working well, it runs at its full potential. Even more so, we need to know what it means for a community such as mine when the system starts to fall apart.”
The Minister for Housing, Stuart Andrew MP, said “The Government believe that neighbourhood planning offers a powerful set of tools for local people to shape development in their area —development that meets their community’s needs, from protecting green spaces and local heritage right down to the design and characteristics of new homes.
“The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill makes it clear that communities will be able to continue allocating sites for housing, protecting green spaces and local assets, and setting design requirements for new developments through their plans. Crucially, the Bill will strengthen the role of Neighbourhood Plans in decision making.”
The next day, in a second reading of the Bill, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove said “Two of the most important measures in this Bill are strengthening local leadership and reforming our planning system in order to put neighbourhoods firmly in control. That is why it is so critical that we deal with one or two of the flaws – I will put it no more highly than that – within the current planning system.”
