News
Neighbourhood Planning Funding 21/22 Confirmed
Thursday 1st July 2021
The Chief Planner's letter of 29 June 2021 confirms that neighbourhood planning remains an essential part of the Government's reforms to help local communities play a much stronger role in shaping the areas in which they live and work and in supporting new development proposals.
Details of the funding arrangements for local planning authorities for this financial year (FY 21/22) are set in Annex A of the Chief Planner's letter, which can be viewed HERE
An earlier, April 2021, announcement also set out an additional (new) £2.1m fund focussed on increasing the uptake of neighbourhood planning, which aims to enable local planning authorities with low levels of uptake by providing some resources to support neighbourhood planning, through the hiring of a dedicated neighbourhood planning officer; a project manager; or an engagement specialist. A further £330k fund has been launched to test a simpler approach to neighbourhood planning. This aims to overcome the perceived complexity of the neighbourhood planning process and lack of volunteer capacity, that can contribute to a low uptake for neighbourhood planning despite strong appetite in local communities to shape their areas. Read more HERE