Consultant Partners

For those interested in setting up a neighbourhood planning group:

  • Nick Wates Associates
  • communityplanning.net
  • Planning Portal

 

Online Services.

Through our parent company Stanfords Business Mapping we offer 3 online services:

GIS Platform

Stanfords GIS for neighbourhood management. Draw the boundary extents of your neighbourhood area. Upload and view photographs, documents e.t.c. relating to your group. 

Portal Banner

Stanfords Portal for planning application maps. A4 1:2500, 1:1250, 1:500, 1:200 scale Ordnance Survey location and block plans to support the planning process.  

Data Hosting

Stanfords Hosting for hosting map data and associated csv information tables. Local Authorities in particular should explore this as, under the PSMA, the OS map data is free. 

 

Communityplanning.net

"If you want to know how the shoe fits, ask the person who is wearing it, not the one who made it." To find out more click here.

  1. Home
  2. Products
  3. Neighbourhood Groups & Consulting Partners

Neighbourhood Groups & Consulting Partners

Click for an introduction to our online mapping systems; information about planning application maps can be found here. Those interested in setting up a neighbourhood group should visit our neighbourhood consultants partner page.

In these first stages of the localism agenda we thought it would be useful to point visitors to a small selection of recognised experts. This may be especially useful for those leading the process of setting up a new group. As groups complete the process, and new experts emerge, we may expand this selection.

 

Setting up a Neighbourhood Group/ Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP)

Typically most groups will follow a process similar to the following 9 steps:

    • Define and designate the Neighbourhood Area
    • Establish/ designate a Neighbourhood Forum (in non-Parished areas). In non Town and Parish areas (in a city like Exeter for example) an existing Community Group will often take the lead, but this is not necessarily the case. In Town and Parish areas, town and parish councils will take the lead. 
    • Gather evidence and undertake consultation (can be ongoing throughout the process)
    • Local Authority Validation Check
    • Submit draft proposals for the NDP for independent examination.  
    • Independent examination - written representations and hearings
    • Examiners' report
    • Referendum on (modified) proposals
    • Adoption by the Local Authority. It is important to note that if the Neighbourhood Plan successfully passes this stage it will become a statutory plan with legal teeth (unlike the old parish plans).

 

Consultants

For detailed information and guidance on setting up a new neighbourhood group, including the experiences of some of the first front runners, please visit communityplanning.net.

For information relating to the Ordnance Survey's Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA), beyond that supplied on our own dedicated page, please visit Ordnance Survey's website.

For a summary of how the localism agenda fits in with existing neighbourhood planning policies, please visit The Planning Portal.

For the views of a community planning specialist please contact Nick Wates Associates.

Choose a different service

Visitor type

I am interested in: