Neighbourhood Planning is a way for communities to take a proactive approach to deciding the future of the places where they live and work. Communities can use their Neighbourhood Plan to inform the development and use of land and to make other improvements to their neighbourhood, including the development of homes and infrastructure, environmental matters and health and well-being. The Neighbourhood Plan can: 

• propose more development than the Local Plan
• identify the most suitable sites for development
• help to determine what type and design of development should take place

The Neighbourhood Plan cannot:

• propose less growth than in the Local Plan
• prevent any development from ever taking place in an area
• be prepared without community input and support
• be in conflict with local, national or EU policies

A Neighbourhood Plan helps set out a community’s vision for their area over ten, fifteen, twenty years. Unlike a Parish Plan, once agreed the Neighbourhood Plan has the same legal status as the Local Plan so, decisions on planning applications must take the Neighbourhood Plan into consideration. Communities can put in place planning policies that will help deliver that vision or grant planning permission for the development they want to see.