The IHBC’s Vice-Chair Kathy Davies joined the debate on housing and neighbourhood planning at the recent joint All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) for Civic Societies and for Local Democracy, led by Civic Voice, which took place on Tuesday 31 January, and here reports back on issues raised there.
Houses of Parliament courtesy of UK Gov
Kathy Davies writes:
‘It is great that some of the issues involved in neighbourhood planning are getting an airing in a forum like this, but there’s still a long way to go to make the often tense process of managing planning and local housing development accessible and manageable for the majority of communities.
The joint meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies and All Party Parliamentary Group on Local Democracy addressed the issue of whether neighbourhood plans can deliver the homes the country needs. Introduced by Joan Humble, Civic Voice chair, and co-chaired by Craig Mackinley MP and Scott Mann MP, two main points that emerged were the need to provide the quality of houses that people wanted to live in, whether in towns or rural areas, and the need to make the neighbourhood planning process simpler.
Max Farrell explained his 10 principles for placemaking which are being put into practice in large areas of new housing, such as Bicester. Engaging with communities at the outset is the first principle.
Lord Matthew Taylor argued, from his experience of being involved in a neighbourhood plan, for more support from local authorities for communities through the extraordinarily lengthy and complex process. He stressed how important it was for local authorities and the government to respect neighbourhood plans once made. Change can be driven by a community itself with its local knowledge and input being more valuable than external ‘experts’. He also raised the point, often forgotten, that neighbourhood plans are about more than just housing.
Maybe there’s a role for IHBC to remind those engaging in neighbourhood plans that the starting point should be the heritage significance of the neighbourhood and then assessing options for meeting a community’s needs whilst minimising harm to heritage significance.’
For more on this debate see Civic Voice news
