Statement regarding Neighbourhood Planning and COVID-19
The Government's advice is that we should stay at home and keep away from others - Government guidance on staying at home and away from others. We would therefore strongly advise town/parish councils preparing neighbourhood plans not to undertake any public consultation (unless it is exclusively online/web-based with an email or online survey response) for the purposes of preparing a neighbourhood plan until the Government's restrictions on the public freedom of movement have been lifted. In addition, town/parish councils should not carry out statutory Pre Submission Consultation and Publicity (Regulation 14*) as it is not considered that the regulatory requirements of consultation and publicity can safely be met.
On 7 April 2020 the Government set out that no Neighbourhood Planning Referendums can take place until 6 May 2021 Government guidance Neighbourhood Planning.
We will update parish and town councils and the relevant Council websites when there has been a material change in the circumstances set out above.
1st April 2020
* The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 as amended
- make a neighbourhood development plan – sets out where new homes and offices should be built and how they should look
- make a neighbourhood development order – gives the community the ability to grant planning permission
- make a Community Right to Build order – gives permission for small-scale, site-specific developments by a community group
The process
- Buckinghamshire Council consults on the designation of Neighbourhood Areas
- The town or parish council consults on the pre-submission stage of their own neighbourhood plan
- Buckinghamshire Council holds a public consultation on the plan, and the responses are sent to an independent examiner
- If the plan passes independent examination, the local community votes on whether it supports the plan
- If the plan is supported, it will be used to inform planning decisions in that neighbourhood
