Neighbourhood plans: weight, review and referendum
Once made, a neighbourhood plan sits in the statutory development plan. How the stages work, what the basic conditions test, and what happens when a later local plan conflicts.
A made neighbourhood plan is part of the statutory development plan, which means applications in the area must be determined in accordance with it unless material considerations indicate otherwise. That is the whole of its power and it is considerable. Neighbourhood plan weight does not depend on the size of the community that wrote it or on how recently it passed its referendum for the basic point: once made, it sits alongside the local plan in the section 38(6) duty.
What varies is how a conflict between the neighbourhood plan and a later local plan is resolved, and what extra protection a recently made plan carries where housing land supply is in question.
Where the power comes from
Neighbourhood planning was created by the Localism Act 2011, which inserted the machinery into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The detailed procedure sits in the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 as amended.
A parish or town council leads the work in a parished area. Elsewhere a neighbourhood forum has to be designated first, with a constitution and a defined membership drawn from the area. Business areas can be designated too, which brings a second referendum of businesses alongside the residents' one.
The stages from designation to referendum
The sequence is long and each stage has its own consultation requirement.
- Designation of the neighbourhood area, and of a forum where there is no parish council.
- Plan preparation, evidence gathering and community engagement.
- Pre-submission publicity and consultation, a minimum of six weeks, under regulation 14.
- Submission to the local planning authority with the consultation statement and the basic conditions statement.
- Publicity by the authority under regulation 16, a further six weeks.
- Independent examination, usually by written representations rather than a hearing.
- The examiner's report, recommending that the plan proceeds to referendum, with or without modifications, or that it does not.
- Referendum, carried by a simple majority of those voting.
- The plan is made by the local planning authority and becomes part of the development plan.
Two to four years from designation to referendum is a realistic expectation for a plan with allocations. Groups that expect a year are usually the ones that run out of volunteers.
The basic conditions, which are the real test
A neighbourhood plan is not examined for soundness in the way a local plan is. It is examined against the basic conditions, and the two that fail plans are regard to national policy and general conformity with the strategic policies of the development plan for the area.
General conformity is the hard one. A neighbourhood plan cannot plan for less housing than the strategic policies require, and it cannot allocate sites in a way that undermines the strategy. It can decide where development goes within the area, it can set design requirements, and it can protect local green space where the tests are met.
Plans that try to prevent development altogether do not survive examination. Plans that accept the number and take control of the location and the design usually do.
Examiners also strike out policies that duplicate the local plan or that stray outside land use matters. Parking enforcement, dog fouling and speed limits appear in draft plans regularly and come out again, because a development plan document can only do development plan things. Communities can put those aspirations in a separate document, and many do.
When a made plan carries full weight
From the day it is made. The plan forms part of the development plan and the section 38(6) duty applies to it in the same way it applies to the local plan.
Before that point the position is graduated. An emerging neighbourhood plan gains weight as it progresses through submission, examination and referendum, taking account of how far advanced it is and the extent of unresolved objections. A plan that has passed its referendum but has not yet been made is close to full weight in practice.
The current National Planning Policy Framework, the edition published on 17 August 2026, also provides additional protection for recently made neighbourhood plans containing housing policies and allocations, where conditions about housing land supply and delivery are met. The Framework is now organised by policy code rather than by paragraph number, and the numbering changed in both December 2024 and August 2026, so check the current text on gov.uk rather than quoting a paragraph from an older copy.
Conflict with a later local plan
Where policies in a made neighbourhood plan and an adopted local plan conflict, the plan-led system resolves it by date. The later of the two prevails in relation to the conflicting policies.
This is why a neighbourhood plan group watching a local plan review is doing something rational rather than defensive. A new local plan adopted after the neighbourhood plan can override the neighbourhood plan's conflicting policies, including allocations, and the group's route to influence is participation in the local plan examination rather than a complaint afterwards.
Reviewing and updating a plan
There is no statutory requirement to review a neighbourhood plan at fixed intervals, and no expiry date. A plan simply becomes less useful as its evidence ages and as its housing figures are overtaken.
Modification procedures introduced by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 allow changes to be made proportionately. Minor modifications that do not change the nature of the plan can be made without a referendum following examination, while material modifications need the full process again. Deciding which category a change falls into is a matter for the examiner.
In practice the trigger for review is usually a local plan review or a lost appeal that exposed a weak policy. Both are good reasons. Reviewing because five years have passed, with no change in the evidence and no volunteers left, is how plans stall halfway through a second cycle and end up worse than they started.
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 also introduced neighbourhood priorities statements as a lighter way for communities to record what matters to them without preparing a full plan. Check on gov.uk whether the relevant provisions are in force and what they require, because commencement of that Act has been staged.
Using a made plan in an application
For an applicant, a made neighbourhood plan is a policy document to be addressed rather than an obstacle to be ignored. Officers cite it, and an application that engages with its design policies directly tends to have a shorter consultation.
Three practical points. Quote the neighbourhood plan policy by its own reference, not by the local plan equivalent. Deal with its design requirements in the design narrative rather than in an appendix. And where a site is a local green space or a designated view, treat that as a hard constraint rather than a matter for negotiation, because the designations survive examination precisely because they were justified.
A Planning Statement that works through both the local plan and the neighbourhood plan policies in order is the document that does this work, and community consultation carried out before submission is recorded in a Statement of Community Involvement. You can browse the report types that a scheme in a plan area may need, and follow reform to the plan-making system on the planning law updates timeline.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Neighbourhood plan policies and their weight differ by area and change over time, so check with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
When does a neighbourhood plan carry full weight?
From the day it is made by the local planning authority, when it becomes part of the statutory development plan and the section 38(6) duty applies. Before that, an emerging plan gains weight as it progresses through submission, examination and referendum, taking account of how advanced it is and the extent of unresolved objections.
What are the basic conditions?
The tests a neighbourhood plan must meet at examination, including having regard to national policy, contributing to sustainable development, general conformity with the strategic policies of the development plan, and compatibility with habitats and other retained obligations. General conformity is the condition that most often causes difficulty, because a plan cannot provide for less housing than the strategic policies require.
What happens if a later local plan conflicts with the neighbourhood plan?
The later of the two prevails in relation to the conflicting policies. A local plan adopted after a neighbourhood plan can override its conflicting policies, including allocations. That is why neighbourhood plan groups take part in local plan examinations rather than waiting to object to individual applications afterwards.
Does a neighbourhood plan expire?
No. There is no statutory review interval and no expiry date. What happens is that the plan's evidence ages and its housing figures are overtaken, so its policies carry less practical force in decisions. Modification procedures allow updates, with minor modifications possible after examination without a further referendum.
How long does it take to prepare a neighbourhood plan?
Two to four years from designation of the area to referendum is realistic for a plan containing site allocations, because each stage carries its own consultation period and the examination and referendum have to be arranged by the local planning authority. Plans without allocations can move faster, but volunteer capacity is usually the limiting factor.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.