Checking whether a made neighbourhood plan applies

A made neighbourhood plan is part of the statutory development plan, and a neighbourhood plan planning application has to be assessed against its policies in the same way as against the local plan. The word that matters is made. A plan that has passed examination but not yet been through a referendum carries weight as a material consideration, and a plan still in draft carries very little. Check the status before you design anything, because parish policies on plot frontage, roof form, materials and windfall sites can be more specific than anything in the local plan.

Two minutes on the council's website settles it. The plan itself will be published there, with the date it was made.

How a neighbourhood area is designated

The process begins with a designated neighbourhood area. In a parished area the parish or town council applies to the local planning authority for designation. In an unparished area, a neighbourhood forum has to be designated first, with a minimum membership drawn from the area and a written constitution, and its designation lasts five years.

The local planning authority publicises the application, considers representations and then designates the area. The boundary is published, and it usually follows the parish boundary. Not always. Areas can be smaller than a parish, and business areas can be designated separately.

The designation is the first thing to check, because a site can sit just outside the neighbourhood area even though it feels like part of the village.

From drafting to referendum

The stages are set by the Localism Act 2011, which inserted the neighbourhood planning provisions into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and by the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012.

1. The qualifying body drafts the plan and consults on it for at least six weeks.
2. The plan is submitted to the local planning authority with a consultation statement and a basic conditions statement.
3. The authority publicises the submitted plan for a further period and invites representations.
4. An independent examiner considers whether the plan meets the basic conditions, usually on written representations.
5. The examiner reports, often recommending modifications.
6. A referendum is held in the neighbourhood area, and a simple majority of those voting decides it.
7. The authority makes the plan, and it becomes part of the development plan.

The basic conditions are worth knowing because they shape what a neighbourhood plan can lawfully do. The plan must have regard to national policy, contribute to sustainable development, be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the development plan for the area, and meet the prescribed conditions including those on habitats. A neighbourhood plan cannot plan for less housing than the strategic policies require.

When a made plan becomes part of the development plan

On the day the authority makes it. From that point the decision must be taken in accordance with the development plan as a whole unless material considerations indicate otherwise, and the neighbourhood plan sits in that plan alongside the local plan and any minerals and waste plan.

Where policies conflict, the legislation gives priority to the policy in the document that was adopted or made most recently. That is a useful rule for a self-builder facing an old local plan settlement boundary and a newer neighbourhood plan that allocates the site, or the reverse.

Conflicts are common around village settlement boundaries, where neighbourhood plans often redraw a line the local plan set years earlier.

Checking the plan boundary against your site

Do this properly rather than by eye:

• Find the neighbourhood area designation map on the authority's website and confirm the site is inside it.
• Download the made plan and its policies map, which is often a separate document.
• Note the date the plan was made and whether a review is under way.
• Read every policy that mentions housing, design, local green space, parking and heritage, because those are the ones that catch small applications.

Local Green Space designations deserve particular attention. A neighbourhood plan can designate land as Local Green Space, which attracts protection equivalent to Green Belt policy, and those designations frequently sit on garden land, paddocks and infill plots that look developable on a map.

Policies that commonly catch small applications

For a one or two dwelling scheme, the neighbourhood plan policies that cause trouble are usually the specific ones:

• Design codes setting roof pitch, eaves height, window proportions and materials.
• Frontage and plot width requirements that rule out a narrow infill.
• Parking standards higher than the local plan's.
• Requirements for a minimum garden size or for tree retention.
• Policies restricting development to the settlement boundary drawn in the plan itself.

These policies are enforceable in the same way as local plan policies, and they are often the reason a scheme that meets the local plan still gets refused. Address each relevant policy by number in the planning statement rather than dealing with them as a group.

One more check is worth the five minutes it takes. Neighbourhood plans are reviewed and replaced like any other plan, and a review can change a settlement boundary or delete an allocation. Look for a review timetable on the parish council website as well as the district's, because the two are not always in step.

Weight for an emerging plan

An emerging neighbourhood plan gains weight as it advances. A plan that has been submitted for examination carries more weight than one out for consultation, and a plan that has passed examination and awaits a referendum carries more still. The Framework sets out how much weight may be given to emerging plans and, in a separate provision, limits the effect of the presumption in favour of sustainable development where a recently made neighbourhood plan contains policies for housing and certain conditions are satisfied. That provision has been reworded across Framework editions, so read the current version rather than a summary written for an earlier one.

But weight is a judgement for the decision maker. Do not assume an emerging policy will be applied as if it were made, and do not assume it will be ignored either.

Evidencing the position

Put four things in the application: the name and date of the made plan, confirmation that the site sits inside the neighbourhood area, a policy by policy assessment of the relevant neighbourhood policies, and an explanation of any conflict between the neighbourhood plan and the local plan with the date each became part of the development plan.

Parish councils are usually consulted on applications in their area and will comment on their own plan. An application that has already engaged with their policies, in their numbering, tends to get a shorter objection.

Work out the document list before you commission anything: browse the report types on PlanScope to see what the application is likely to need.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.