What are we to make of neighbourhood planning? Friend of the podcast Ben Castell considers it a “grassroots planning revolution”. Perhaps less favourably it conjures for others images of corduroy and tweed-clad councillors convening a parish council working group to thwart plans for an incinerator or, worse still, new housing.

With neighbourhood planning now part of the furniture, but with the current opposition and possible next Government talking about ‘taking planning up a level’, Sam Stafford thought it time for the podcast to evaluate the story of neighbouring planning so far, which is lead in this episode by the afore-mentioned Ben Castell.

Ben is Planning Director at AECOM, where he has worked with a number of neighbourhood planning groups, and has also had two stints as Chair of his local Neighbourhood Forum.

Ben convened a group of planners with nuts-and-bolts experience in this field for a conversation recorded online in April 2024.

Samantha Banks is the Neighbourhood Planning Programme Manager at Locality, which has provided the government’s Neighbourhood Planning Support Programme since 2013. Samantha previously worked as the Neighbourhood Planning Manager at Herefordshire Council, leading a team that supported over 100 town and parish councils produce neighbourhood plans.

Graeme Markland has been the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer at Thame Town Council since 2016 and before that was a technical and planning officer at Luton Borough Council and the Luton and South Bedfordshire Joint Technical Unit.

Leani Haim is a Planning Director at ONH, which provides planning and development services to town and parish councils, neighbourhood forums, landowners and developers. ONH has supported over 200 neighbourhood plan projects.

Now it is fair to say that Ben, Samantha, Graeme and Leani are all neighbourhood planning enthusiasts and for balance, in addressing the question as to how successful the enterprise has been, a more sceptical voice was required. About two thirds of the way through then Listeners will hear from another friend of the podcast, Simon Ricketts, who fits that bill and who kindly recorded his thoughts in advance so that Ben, Samantha, Graeme and Leani could mull them over in the final section of the episode.

Some accompanying reading.

Independent research on the impacts of neighbourhood planning

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-research-on-the-impacts-of-neighbourhood-planning

Neighbourhood planning in England: A decade of institutional learning

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900623000107#bib169

Locality’s Key Neighbourhood Planning Data

https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/key-neighbourhood-planning-data/

Locality’s Toolkits and Guidance

https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/

Neighbourhood planning areas

https://communities.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d195c3134caa46b5a638ad0c4f0cce77

Planning Practice Guidance

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neighbourhood-planning--2

Some accompanying listening

You Woke Up My Neighbourhood – Billy Bragg (Ben’s choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnHxAxaara0

Who’s In Control? – Sea Power (Sam's choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Lf0IiEZt8

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html