Community Led Planning

Community led planning can be undertaken by local community groups such as Parish Councils. It can take the form of a neighbourhood plan, neighbourhood development order, community right to build order, parish plan or village design statement.

Types of community led plans

Neighbourhood Plans provide the opportunity for local communities to play a greater role in determining the future of their area. A neighbourhood plan can include policies on the development and use of land in a parish or neighbourhood area. However, they cannot be used to propose a lower level of housing growth than that proposed within Local Plans. A Neighbourhood Plan should conform with planning policies and guidance in the District's Local Plan and national policy (NPPF/PPG).

Neighbourhood Development Orders follow the same process as neighbourhood plans. Whilst a neighbourhood plan sets out policies for an area, the neighbourhood development order can grant outline or full planning permission for specified development.

Community Right to Build Orders allow community groups to identify land for new, small scale development such as new homes, shops or other community facilities, and gain planning approval through public referendum rather than the local planning authority.

Parish Plans assess current and future potential issues in an area and set out a plan of action.

Village Design Statements assess the character of an area to influence the design of new development locally.

Support available from Maldon District Council

Following the introduction of neighbourhood planning by HM Government in 2011, Maldon District Council has produced a protocol to outline what support is available from the Council to assist the production of Neighbourhood Plans. The support outlined within this protocol may be provided by officers of Maldon District Council or by the Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE), depending upon the individual Parish circumstances. The protocol was updated and approved by the Planning and Licensing Committee as of 14 January 2016. Links to the relevant documents can be found below:

Further information, support and guidance

The RCCE has a large amount of experience supporting community groups to produce community led plans in the area. The RCCE has produced a useful neighbourhood planning guide which is available at the following location: Essex RCCE

Further background information on community led planning is available from the following sources:

The Rural Services Network (Sparse) are trialling a new service which provides key statistics and population-based datasets from the Census 2011 and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) at parish / town council level. This has been developed primarily for use for communities wanting to develop community and neighbourhood plans and provides a useful tool to compare your area with other parish areas across the country. The following link will enable you to select your authority and view your customised local information: Rural Services Network Online

Next Neighbourhood Plans

Community Led Planning & Neighbourhood Plans