Localism in practice: lessons from a pioneer neighbourhood plan in England

Abstract

The UK Government claimed that its 2011 Localism Act would shift power (back) to local communities and neighbourhoods so that they can manage their affairs in their own interests. One of the principal ways this was intended to happen was through the production of Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs). In this paper we use a longitudinal case study of the first NDP to be adopted to analyse the extent to which it meets the expectations placed upon this new element of the English planning system, and consequently the implications for the success or otherwise of 'localism' more broadly. We explore issues including the legitimacy of localist planning processes, the capacity of communities to take the opportunities open to them, and the extent to which higher tiers of governance can frame and constrain the activities of lower tiers.

Governing our neighbours: participation and conflict in neighbourhood planning

“…The emergence of an inner core of 'usual suspects' involved in making plans, who have a store of traditions derived from shared practices determined through preexisting networks, is very common, as other examples of parish and neighbourhood plan-making suggest (e.g. Moseley 1997;Sturzaker and Shaw 2015). In the case of Neighbourhood Planning this seems especially likely in areas that are parished as it is the Parish Council that already deals with planning issues in a village and it is the Parish Council that must play the central role.…”

“…What then is the future for Neighbourhood Plans in England and for other jurisdictions looking to develop community-led, very-local planning? Such plans do facilitate greater control over planning, provide useful local nuance to policy that reflects the particular conditions and desires that exist in a locality, and they are at least as democratically inclusive as planning at other scales in England (Sturzaker and Shaw 2015). But this is not yet the participatory democratic model as asserted in English central government rhetoric, nor are neighbourhood plans likely to meet the demands of agonistic planning theory.…”

Sustainability Appraisal in neighbourhood planning in England

“…When neighbourhood planning was introduced, some commentators were sceptical about whether it would be able to generate any tangible benefits, not least due to a perceived lack of local planning capacity, as well as insufficient financial support to deliver NPs effectively (Parker, Lynn, and Wargent 2015;Sturzaker and Shaw 2015). Despite a now substantial amount of published work on neighbourhood planning, the need to critically review emerging experiences, in particular, with regard to these concerns persists (see also Parker and Murray 2012).…”

Limits of Localism

“…An example of the shift from strategic decentralisation to a market-based, neoliberal one is the process of localism in the United Kingdom (Lowndes and Pratchett, 2012;Sturzaker and Shaw, 2015;Tait and Inch, 2016). When a coalition of Conservative and Liberal-Democrat parties came to power in the United Kingdom in 2010, it abolished the regional tier of government and its associated plans, such as regional spatial and economic plans.…”

“…In this paper, I aim to undertake a critical examination of localism to find out whether it reflects the conditions of, and the different attitudes towards, localities. Rather than an analysis of the current policies of austerity localism in the United Kingdom (Lowndes and Pratchett, 2012;Sturzaker and Shaw, 2015;Tait and Inch, 2016), the aim here is to develop a theoretical examination of the concept of localism in a broader context, and whether the positive expectations associated with localism in planning may be maintained.…”