Transcript Slide 1

Localism Act and Neighbourhood
Planning
Liz Bourne
National Training Manager
Action for Market Towns
Some General Definitions
Localism
Is the PHILOSOPHY – shifting
power away from centralist control
to the local level
Decentralisation
Is the PROCESS – giving powers
to individuals, professionals,
communities, local organisations
Big Society
Is the END RESULT – people
have powers and drive to create
better services and outcomes
Government ‘growth’ agenda
• National Planning Policy
Framework – presumption in
favour of growth
• Government incentives
scheme to encourage
communities to prepare
Neighbourhood Plans
to deliver more housing and
economic growth
The Right to Plan
• Neighbourhood Development Plan - to establish general
planning policies for the development and use of land in a
neighbourhood.
• Neighbourhood Development Order – permit development - in
full or in outline – without the need for planning applications.
Eg. Home extensions, retail change of use etc
• Community Right to Build Order – permit smaller-scale
development on a specific site, without the need for planning
permission, eg. Housing/ facilities etc
The Right to Buy – Assets of
Community Value
• Nominate “Asset of Community Value” either publicly or
privately owned - such as community centres, village shops or
open spaces they want to keep or transform.
• Be notified if any asset on the list is being put up for sale
• A “window of opportunity” to prepare a business case and seek
funding to compete on the open market to buy and manage that
local asset
To keep vital local facilities open, transforming their use,
generating income and increasing the self sufficiency of the
neighbourhood for the long term benefit of their community.
The Right to Challenge
• New powers to challenge and take over a local service
• Expression of Interest to the local authority ‘challenging’ the
way in which a service is currently run
• Procurement exercise is triggered - no guarantee that their bid
during the procurement stage will be successful; hence the
organisation that ends up running the service may not be the
one who originally made the challenge.
To give more power to local people and enable them to play
a bigger role in designing and delivering local services as
well as improving service delivery generally.
Any questions?