London boroughs in joint ‘neighbourhood forum’ bid

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Local Government and also in Communities

Residents of Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea have made a bid to become a cross-borough neighbourhood forum.

If successful, the alliance will able to work on a so-called ‘neighbourhood plan’, which gives local people a major statutory say in helping to shape development in the areas in which they live.

Neighbourhood forums - which were introduced as part of the Government’s Localism Act, given Royal Assent November 2011 - are community groups that are designated to take forward neighbourhood planning in areas without parishes.

Before the introduction of neighbourhood forums, only town and parish councils could take planning forward. It is the role of the local planning authority to agree who should be the neighbourhood forum for the area.

The cross-borough neighbourhood forum bid would seek to build local consensus around a set of detailed planning policies governing issues such as roof-lights, basement development, eco retrofitting, and supporting local shopping parades and the Latimer Road employment area.

Councillor Tim Ahern, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Cabinet Member for Planning, said: “We are great supporters of Neighbourhood Planning and were one of the first councils in the country to give the thumbs up to an application.

“This is our second application, and it’s possibly another first as it straddles two boroughs and involves our neighbours in Hammersmith & Fulham.  The two boroughs must now consider the application and we will report back in due course.”

Neighbourhood development plans or orders do not take effect unless there is a majority of support in a referendum of the neighbourhood.

They also have to meet a number of conditions before they can be put to a community referendum and legally come into force. These conditions are to ensure plans are legally compliant and take account of wider policy considerations (e.g. national policy).

Conditions are:

1. they must have regard to national planning policy
2. they must be in general conformity with strategic policies in the development plan for the local area (i.e. such as in a core strategy)
3. they must be compatible with EU obligations and human rights requirements.