In 2011 the Localism Act reformed the planning system to enable local people more say in determining how their local areas are developed. This has enabled local groups to work with Town Councils to set out a vision for the places they live, study and work
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This can include identifying where you think new homes, shops leisure facilities or employment opportunities are to be built and what these buildings should look like within the local area.
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A Neighbourhood Plan will give local people an increased ability to influence planning decisions in the local area, and as such will need to be representative of the people that work and live in the towns.
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The Government through the Localism Act in 2011 introduced Neighbourhood Planning to England as a way of allowing Towns, Parishes and Cities to have more say and control over where and how Communities lived.
National Planning Policies contained in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) have to be followed and Local District Plans ie in our case Lewes District , Core Document. Additionally because we are fortunate to have the South Downs National Park to the north of the plan area the plans and policies of the SDNP Authority are also a consideration.
Working within these parameters Communities can set their own policies, identify paths, greenspaces and generally set out how we want our area to function.
This is done by a series of Public Consultations, over seen by a Steering Group which works with the Councillors and Officers at the Town Council.
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The process and time scales for the Neighbourhood Plan are laid down by Government and can be found here.
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