What happens if Neighbourhood Plan is NOT made

Question

We are in the process of a referendum for our Draft Neighbourhood Plan (within 2 weeks) and I wonder what happens if it is not supported by a majority of residents enable to vote.  Can anyone point me to a definitive answer on this - we are failry confident of it being made but want to know what happens if it isn't.

Answer 1

I'm not an NP expert, but I think the simple answer is that nothing happens. You carry on as before, or try again.

Answer 2

Some of the stats I have seen point to about a 90% yes vote for most plans. So unless you have upset a sizeable group of residents you should be OK.

I wish you the best of luck!

Comments

If the NDP is carried out correctly which will include consultation on each section with the community and adjusting to meet the needs of the community then this would give the expectation of a high % of success. Failure in the final referendum can only be put down to the formation of the NDP not appreciating and meeting the communities needs.

---

It’ll be “interesting” when my PC NDP goes to referendum.
Just like the PC, it has been riven with factional disputes, personal agenda, suspected immoral objectives, leading and loaded questions, manipulation of so-called community engagement and personality clashes.
It is post examination - pre referendum with the referendum delayed from the planned 6 May date to a later date so as not to ‘overload’ the electorate with County, Town, parish and PCC elections due on 6 May.
I’m going to have to look up what the pass/fail criteria are soon. Is just a simple majority for / against scenario?

Funny thing is, part of the reason we have more candidates than seats for PC election this time - first in memory - is that a new PC is likely to adopt a non support role for the NDP which was primarily driven by a single individual.
6 May is SO EXCITING!!

---

Yep, simple majority of those voting.

---

"a new PC is likely to adopt a non support role for the NDP".
How bizarre. As I see it, one of the great advantages of a NDP is that in reviewing a planning application, the PC has a definitive set of policies that can be applied to either recommend approval or object to the planning application, with detailed policy reason of its own. (Well at least until the principal authority decides the NDP is out of date).

---

Bang on the money there Caroline!  It absolutely IS bizarre.

Somebody asked in a previous thread about how we managed to get so many new candidates for an election where the preceding 2, possibly 3, had seen insufficient candidates resulting in uncontested election and the return of the same characters.  Add to that the dozen of so resignations and co-options in the current election period and you start to get a measure of just how ABSOLUTELY bizarre the situation has become.

The NDP plays a fairly but by no means exclusive role in the enthusiasm of "new blood."  There is even overt dissent within the existing cohort of parish councillors in relation to the (almost exclusive) efforts of 1 notably pernicious individual as the driving force behind what is patently a bizarre central theme of the existing draft (post examination / pre referendum) NDP.

The NDP steering group has imploded several times.  The general lack of intelligence in the PC facilitated the ambitions of 1 person.  The original concept was abandoned, then after implosion, rekindled by 1 notable individual - more through lack of any other person being interested than through a legitimate ability.
And so it is my personal prediction - no more or less - having tracked the progress of the NDP over the preceding couple of years, that it is highly unlikely to receive the final PC endorsement.  Whether that actually matters or not is a fairly mute point since its validation will be subject to referendum rather than PC endorsement.

I am rather looking forward to planning applications post a successful NDP (if that happens) where it is possible that the PC may vote in support of an application even if it appears to run contrary to the NDP.  Interesting times ahead...

---

One of my councils had a similar experience, before my time, where one member used the apathy of the others to develop his own plan. It didn't get beyond pre-submission consultation and I haven't attempted to rekindle it, as it's fraught with complexity and the benefits are marginal.

Answer 3

This recent article gives quite a comprehensive reply… https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2016/04/20/good-bad-and-ugly-neighbourhood-plans it sees an advantage of NPs being that communities with a neighbourhood plan can receive a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payment of 25 per cent on new build, whereas those without gain just 15 per cent, capped at £100/existing housing unit, maximum. This may not be an advantage for residents who do not trust their council with money though.

Comments

Not every principal authority has adopted CIL.

Answer 4

In a village nearby where I live, the NDP was defeated at referendum by just a few votes after one individual mounted a social media campaign in the 24 hours before the vote, claiming that a vote against the NDP (and it's a simply yes/no vote) would mean no development within the village.  He was, of course, totally wrong and in the fullness of time a developer did present a planning application and achieved outline permission for the site that the individual was keen to prevent being developed.  The difference was that the policies about type of development, style, environmental considerations etc. etc. were not applicable so the developer can do pretty much what they want.