Farming Talk: Shake-up of system is to be welcomed

Love thy neighbourhood? The planning system has been much in the news recently as the coalition's proposed reforms begin to take shape.

At the heart of the changes is the government's move to replace more than 1,000 pages of national planning policy guidance notes with a single National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the draft of which runs to just 53 pages.

The approach has been broadly welcomed as bringing long overdue simplification to a contradictory and often unwieldy set of policies.

At the core of the NPPF is the so-called 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' and there is a welcome return to Local Plans, replacing the much-unloved Local Development Frameworks.

New Neighbourhood Plans may also be prepared by parishes or duly constituted neighbourhood forums (approved by local authorities) and although Neighbourhood Plan policies must be consistent with the council's Local Plan policies, they may be flexible so that communities will be able to determine which issues or areas are covered.

A Neighbourhood Development Order will also enable communities to define specific developments, or types of development, which will have automatic planning permission without the need for any application to the local authority.

Many Neighbourhood Plans in Shropshire are already in gestation, with parishes and communities seizing the initiative afforded by the Localism Act to influence planning within their local area.

The concept of Neighbourhood Plans opens up opportunities for farmers and landowners in this area to work together with parish councils on planning matters in a far more effective way.

More than ever before it is important to engage with local groups when contemplating development proposals, whether it be for new housing on some land on the edge of a settlement or conversion of a range of traditional farm buildings, as there is every chance that they may be supported and included with a locally prepared and endorsed plan, which district and borough councils will now have to sit up and take notice of.

Claire Hawkins, Associate, Strutt & Parker LLP, Shrewsbury