Strategic Environmental Assessment

You can find out more about Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) by reading the Understand if your plan requires a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) guide.

Read the guide: Understand if your plan requires a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) 

Habitats Regulations Assessment screening requirements

A neighbourhood plan may need to undergo environmental ‘screening’ for the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) to determine whether it is likely to have a significant effect on a European designated site under the Habitats Directive. At the ‘screening’ stage it has been common to list the measures that were intended to avoid or mitigate any harmful effects of a neighbourhood plan.

In April 2018, in the case, People Over Wind & Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta (“People over Wind”), the Court of Justice of the European Union clarified that it is not appropriate to take account of mitigation measures when screening plans and projects for their effects on European protected habitats under the Habitats Directive. In practice, this means if a likely significant effect is identified at the screening stage of a habitats assessment, an ‘Appropriate Assessment’ must be undertaken.

A new basic condition came into force on 28 December 2018 to allow neighbourhood plans and orders in areas where there could be a likely significant effect on a protected habitat to undertake a full ‘appropriate assessment’ to demonstrate how impacts will be mitigated, in the same way as would happen for a Local Plan.

If your plan requires an appropriate assessment as part of its HRA, you should also consider whether it requires an SEA.

Local green space

You can find out more about green spaces and green space designation by reading the Making local green space designations in your neighbourhood plan toolkit.

Read the Understanding Local Green Spaces toolkit

Green belt

The NPPF allows neighbourhood plans to amend the boundaries of green belts, where strategic policies (either in the local plan or a spatial development strategy) have established the need for changes to the green belt.

Housing needs

You can find out more about housing and Housing Needs Assessment by reading the How to undertake a Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) guide.

Read the How to undertake a Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) guide.

Sites assessment and allocation

You can find out more about site assessment and allocation by reading the How to assess and allocate sites for development guide.

Read the How to assess and allocate sites for development guide

Design codes are a set of illustrated design requirements that provide specific, detailed parameters for the physical development of a site or area. The graphic and written components of the code should be proportionate and build upon a design vision, such as a masterplan or other design and development framework for a site or area.

Design codes can be applied to all development types including residential, commercial, mixed use, open space, landscape or public realm requirements. They can be adopted as a supplementary planning document, or appended to a neighbourhood plan, community right to build order or neighbourhood development order.

You can find more information on design codes within the Planning Practice Guidance at gov.uk

You can learn more about how to create a neighbourhood plan by reading our  How to create a Neighbourhood Plan: Your step by step roadmap guide.

You can find out more about neighbourhood planning regulations on legislation.gov.uk.

You can find out how to establish a neighbourhood forum in the How to establish a neighbourhood planning forum guide.

Read the How to establish a neighbourhood planning forum guide.

You can find out more about neighbourhood area designation in Part C – ‘Neighbourhood designation area’ of the How to create a Neighbourhood Plan: Your step by step roadmap guide.

Read the How to create a Neighbourhood Plan: Your step by step roadmap guide.

What is the community infrastructure levy (CIL)?

Community infrastructure levy (CIL) is a charge which landowners must pay on new development. It applies to developments above a certain size (over 100 square metres) and is collected in order to pay for new infrastructure. The amount charged differs depending on what the CIL rate is. For example, places with higher land values tend to have higher CIL rates. The centre of town for instance.

What’s the difference between CIL and Section 106?

Section 106 is another type of planning obligation similar to CIL. But whilst Section 106 is only collected on certain types of developments, CIL is collected on all developments above 100 square metres within a CIL collecting area. Whilst the amount paid in a Section 106 agreement is negotiated, CIL rates are set and cannot be negotiated. Not all local authorities must set CIL rates, but all are allowed to.

What is the neighbourhood portion of CIL?

15% of CIL collected is passed directly to town and parish councils for them to decide how it will be spent. This is called the neighbourhood portion. In areas that are unparished, instead of being passed to the town or parish council, the local authority must consult residents and businesses about how they would like the neighbourhood portion to be spent. However the local authority retains and spends the money.

Why is the neighbourhood portion of CIL important for neighbourhood planners?

In areas with made neighbourhood plans, the neighbourhood portion of CIL increases to 25%. This is passed to the town or parish council, or in unparished areas, again residents and businesses are consulted.

View the relationship between the levy and neighbourhood plans in England – .pdf

We are a neighbourhood forum (unparished) and are keen to be involved in discussions about how neighbourhood CIL will be spent

Different local authorities will have different approaches to consulting the community on how neighbourhood CIL is spent. Ask your local authority about how and when they will consult on CIL. You may have neighbourhood plan policies directly related to new infrastructure so it will be important you discuss these with your local authority.

Can a neighbourhood forum become parished?

Whilst it is possible for a new civil parish to be created, we understand that so far none have been formed for the express purpose of managing a neighbourhood CIL budget.

You can find out more about CIL and how it relates to you neighbourhood by going to the Understanding Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) toolkit.

Read the Understanding Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) toolkit

Producing a neighbourhood plan is just the beginning. It is important to make sure your neighbourhood plan is used and doesn’t end up sitting on a shelf gathering dust.

It is essential to monitor how your plan is going in the real world. Aspects of monitoring can include:

• Monitoring planning applications: The local authority will have to consider the neighbourhood plan anyway in their decision making, but being proactive and submitting responses to consultations on applications with specific reference to your plan policies can help ensure a strong influence.
• Monitoring LPA decisions on planning applications: The neighbourhood plan is one of a number of considerations for planning officers. Monitoring decisions on applications in relation to your neighbourhood plan can allow you to establish whether policies in your plan are doing what they set out to achieve (for example, are planning officers applying your policy in the way you had originally intended?). If not, you may want to consider revising your made neighbourhood plan.
• Monitoring the local and national planning policy context:  It is important to keep up to date with these changes as they may have implications on your neighbourhood plan, with policies becoming out of date.

You may wish to set up a monitoring group after the plan has been made.

If you have community projects or aspirations in your plan, you may also want to set up an implementation group that focuses solely on bringing forward these schemes.

Minor updates that would not materially affect policies may be made by the local planning authority, with consent from the qualifying body. For example, correcting errors in a plan.

Material modifications which do not change the nature of the plan would require examination but not a referendum. For example, the addition of a design code that builds on a pre-existing design policy.

Material modifications which do change the nature of the plan would require examination and a referendum. For example, if your updated plan seeks to allocate significant new sites for development.

We use the phrase ‘Affordable housing for sale’ to describe a range of housing products which are set out in Annex 2 (b-d) of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 2018. In summary, they include:

• ‘Discounted market sales housing’: the NPPF defines this as “housing that is that sold at a discount of at least 20% below local market value. Eligibility is determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices. Provisions should be in place to ensure housing remains at a discount for future eligible households”;
• ‘Other affordable routes to home ownership’: housing for those who cannot afford it through the market. This includes:
  • shared ownership: a part rent, part buy model that enables people to purchase a share of a new build property and pay rent on the rest;
  • rent to buy: homes let at intermediate rent (at or below 80% of the market rate) for a certain period of time (and during that time the tenant will have the option to buy). At the end of that time period, the tenant will have the option to either buy the property fully or partially through shared ownership; and
  • other low-cost homes for sale at a price to at least 20% below market value.

The Government has also brought forward a new affordable housing for sale product, First Homes. First Homes are sold with a minimum discount of 30% off the market price.

Find out more about First Homes.

You can find more information on these affordable housing products in Annex 2 of the NPPF.

If you have been designated as a neighbourhood forum, your designation will expire after five years. Your neighbourhood area designation does not expire.

If your forum designation expires and you have not yet made your neighbourhood plan, you will need to re-designate to continue making your plan to take it through the statutory stages (e.g. Regulation 14 consultation, submission to the local planning authority etc.).

Neighbourhood forum designations will typically expire after your plan has been made. In this case, you may want to re-designate. Often neighbourhood planning groups monitor the progress of their made neighbourhood plans, including the degree to which the aims and objectives are being realised and the extent to which relevant policies are being considered by the local planning authority when deciding on planning applications.

Technically anyone can keep a check on the plan and monitor planning applications. You do not need to be a designated neighbourhood forum to do this.

However, you may still wish to re-designate. If as part of your monitoring you realise certain policies are not having the desired effect, you may decide to update your made neighbourhood plan and have it remade. In this case, only a designated forum would be able to do this.

The process for re-designation is the same as the initial designation and you will have to submit a forum designation application to your local planning authority. As five years is a long time and the make up of your area may have changed considerably (residents and employers leaving, and new ones coming in etc.), it is important that you invite new members to join the forum, so that the forum membership stays truly reflective of the neighbourhood area.

You can find out more about different options on My Community. This is a general list and not all will be appropriate for neighbourhood planning purposes.

Please note that for grant programmes you may need to meet specific requirements and that funding may not be available for neighbourhood planning purposes.

MHCLG has informed us that, as a result of the spending review, they cannot proceed with commissioning new neighbourhood planning support services for 2025 onwards. Unfortunately this means that we cannot open to applications for new grants or technical support.

MHCLG has confirmed we are able to complete all Technical Support packages it agreed by the end of March 2025. Our work, including through subcontractors such as AECOM, on all packages agreed to date will progress as normal.

Our team of planners are still here to answer your queries on the progress of this work, or technical planning matters, and more broadly to discuss how you can complete your neighbourhood plan and realise your aspirations. Feel free to contact them by clicking “get in touch” at the bottom of this page.