District Matters

Community must get a say in future development

November 2025

Communities were given a valuable right in 2011 to help to plan development in their areas. The Localism Act 2011 allowed Parish Councils or neighbourhood forums to develop plans known as Neighbourhood Development Plans or NDPs to help shape where development will go and what it will look like in their local areas.

Once completed and agreed by the community and the District Council, these Neighbourhood Plans could become part of the district-wide Local Plan and used in the determination of planning applications and appeals.

Up until this year the Government made funding to a specialist organisation to provide support and grants for communities who were working on NDPs.  In June 2025 it was announced that this support would be withdrawn. Those communities currently supported will have until the end of March 2026 to complete their NDPs. After March 2026, further government funding will be withdrawn.

What does this mean in real life? Well, the idea of NDPs was introduced to allow local knowledge, experience, wisdom and proximity to be used to meet local challenges in shaping and planning the future of communities. It allowed residents to have an input on development in their area and the protection of green spaces - whilst protecting the uniqueness of each area.

People want to be involved in making decisions about the places in which they live. Positive engagement can give communities more control over the future of their area and give local people the chance to have their say on what happens where they live. So, is there a way forward that allows us to continue to harness the best of this community involvement and participation into NDPs going forward?

I believe that the role of a local district council should be to ensure and encourage such involvement and make sure that residents have a say in the shaping of their community. Local Plans are complex, technical and take a long time to complete. NDPs allow for more direct input.

The Localism Act 2011 gave Councils such as Stratford-on-Avon District Council a duty to support neighbourhood planning. As the Local Planning Authority, it can and should, lead from the front. All communities should be able to be involved where they wish but they will need support.

It is not just about providing funds, invaluable as this may be. There are best practice methods and templates in use across the country that need to be harnessed so that the process is made easier. Engagement with residents takes time, but local insight and experience are invaluable and can directly translate into better outcomes. People need to be involved in making decisions about the places where they make their lives.

Participatory engagement with clear communication and feedback channels must ensure that where development does take place there should also be community-prioritised facilities, access to schools and health services and the right mix of housing that includes genuinely affordable housing to form complete communities with a long-term future.

There has been a long-term failure by Government’s over many years to transform housing delivery so that it matches need, provides sufficient resilient infrastructure and facilities, protects green spaces and is of high quality, whilst also ensuring community involvement. We need a vision of high-quality homes – but they must be in complete communities for everyone.