A wise man once said that neighbourhood plans (NPs) are the future and if today’s present represents that future then that prophecy has already come to pass. From inception in the 2011 Localism Act there are now, according to the Government, 193 NPs approved at referendum and nearly 2,000 groups involved, covering around ten million people. If those rates of participation continue neighbourhood plans will be today’s future as well as yesterday’s. This is a good thing. Open Source Planning (2010) stated that “the creation of an open source planning system means that local people in each neighbourhood … will be able to specify what kind of development and use of land they want to see in their area. … a fundamental and long overdue rebalancing of power ….”. Public participation in planning is a good thing. A community identifying the best sites within and around it for development is a good thing. How though do local people identify how much development is rig...
Hello. My name is Sam, I am a Town Planner and I sometimes write about town planning-related things (in my own time and as an expression of my own opinions). I used to podcast, there is a link to that on this page somewhere, and I circulate a newsletter from time to time. There is a link to that somewhere as well. Should you be so inclined, I am on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford).