What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

Neighbourhood planning allows local people to come together to prepare a local level plan for their area, to guide future development.

Neighbourhood plans that have gone through all the necessary stages of production and a local referendum must be used by the council alongside its own planning documents to make decisions on planning applications in a particular area.

What Neighbourhood Plans have been prepared in Havant Borough?

To date, the Emsworth Neighbourhood Plan is the only adopted neighbourhood plan in the borough. There are no other Neighbourhood Forums set up that have expressed the wish to prepare a plan.

Is a Neighbourhood Plan the right plan for our community? 

You and your community should ask yourself why you want a neighbourhood plan.  In considering whether a Neighbourhood Plan is right for you and your area you should note the following factors, amongst others:

• A neighbourhood plan must be in conformity with the development plan for the area; that is to say, a neighbourhood plan cannot be used to undermine the policies or site allocations in the Council’s Local Plan.
• If prepared in advance of the Local Plan, a neighbourhood plan can influence what sites are allocated.
• Neighbourhood Plans are well places to contain policies on development design standards, to affect the nature and look of development in an area.
• The amount of commitment required to complete a neighbourhood plan should not be underestimated.  The process involves substantial amounts of work from volunteers and potentially requires specialist inputs.  It is likely to take a number of years to prepare a plan.

Where can I find more information? 

Links to national guidance are provided below.

If you and your community are interested in preparing a Neighbourhood Plan, please contact the Planning Policy Team on 023 9244 6539 or email policy.design@havant.gov.uk for an informal discussion.