1 Keep your eye on the prize – a timely neighborhood plan which addresses the planning issues that matter in your area
2 Manage your time - never underestimate the value of a work program and clear timetable
3 Avoid duplication – don’t worry about including issues that are already adequately addressed in the Local Plan
4 Make a difference - good ideas count for nothing if they never get implement so don’t get distracted
5 Be practical - every new idea requires new information and evidence to back it up
6 Embrace compromise - be honest about how much time, energy resources and skills you can all bring
7 You can’t please all the people all the time – don’t try
8 Keep things moving - don’t delay everything while you wait for information on a single issue that may never emerge
9 Be realistic – you won’t be able to address every issue raised in public consultation or by the enthusiasts in your group
10 Enough is enough – the perfect plan doesn’t exist so draw a line and win that referendum
Stripped to its essentials a neighbourhood plan should:
• Provide a clear community-led vision for the area
• Translate the vision into specific objective(s)
• Express these objective(s) as planning policies
• Validate this with an evidence base that includes the results of community engagement
You can include other content and be more ambitious but always match your ambitions to the resources and enthusiasm you have available.
By keeping your plan simple and clear you can make it easier to understand and you are more likely to complete the course. By showing things don’t have to be complicated or long-winded you will also encourage others to think they can take up their community rights so more people benefit from the power of neighbourhood planning.
At the end of the day your neighborhood plan is a compromise: between the people involved, the ideas they generate and the resources (volunteers, time, money, skills and information) available. Get them out of balance and you will get bogged down. Without resources people will meet and talk but nothing will ever get done. Without ideas your plan will be empty and fail to make an impact. And without people your plan will grind to a halt. Get the mix right and you will hit the neighborhood planning sweet spot (see fig 3). Don’t be afraid of compromise. In neighbourhood planning, as in other areas of life, it is often only by compromising that you can move forward.
Neighbourhood planning is no longer new. Hundreds of communities are already involved – from the heart of the largest cities to the most remote rural areas. The plans which have been developed are as varied as the groups which have prepared them. And the experience to date suggests there are two main ways to avoid complexity: provide simple content and use a simple approach. There are also some simple tools to help you on your way.
It is too easy to lose sight of what lies at the core of a good neighborhood plan. As soon as you begin to investigate your area you will unearth all sorts of different facts and issues. These may be interesting but they may not be relevant. So, remember that your neighborhood plan is not a:
• history book
• guide to the local area
• source of topical facts and information
• local map
• Inventory of local developments or community assets
• place to repeat existing local authority planning policies
While this information can be useful try not to lose sight of what you are trying to achieve. The test of your plan is not whether it covers all the bases but whether it provides clear and deliverable planning policies for the issues that matter to your community. You are unlikely to be short of ideas but you can’t tackle them all.
Less is more
You don’t have to include every idea that comes your way. While everyone in the area needs an opportunity to have their say, it is for your neighborhood forum or parish/ town council to decide what to include. The “consultation statement” required for the Examiner only needs to show that you have properly engaged everyone with an interest in the area in developing your planning policies and how this has informed its content. You do not have to turn every idea into a policy. Your plan may end up with only three policy even if your public engagement throws up 300 ideas.
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