Neighbourhood Planning

RE: Screening Report for Draft Neighbourhood Plan

2026-07-17T08:52:49Z

Hi Tabinda

Where I am based the NP body has sometimes had to draft their own screening opinion because the LPA did not have the capacity to do so. My experience is that the more informal sharing that can take place between the LPA and NP body the more trust is built. It also allows the NP body to consider or even suggest changes that may ultimately be helpful.

Warm regards, Jo

RE: Screening Report for Draft Neighbourhood Plan

2026-07-17T08:51:02Z

Part of the question is 'who are you working for?' - What I mean by that is that you are probably employed at a District or Unitary but allocated the task of supporting the Parish with their NP. So the 'client' for this task is probably the Parish, not the District. So the request is from your client not from a stakeholder. (Compare and constrast with similar draft Local Plan work for example.) And of a course a client can see a draft report. But not a lot of Districts/Unitaries see it that way!

Screening Report for Draft Neighbourhood Plan

2026-07-16T16:00:04Z

I am currently preparing a screening report for a draft Neighbourhood Plan ahead of consultation with the statutory consultees on the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) screening opinion.

The Parish Council has requested sight of the draft screening report before it is issued for consultation, as they would like an informal indication of whether the emerging view is that the plan is likely to require SEA and/or HRA.

I am seeking clarification on whether it is appropriate to share the draft screening report at this stage, prior to consultation with the statutory bodies and before a formal screening determination has been reached.
My concern is that the report contains a provisional assessment which may be subject to change following consultee responses after the 5 week consultation.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or can point me towards any legislation, guidance, case law or best practice that addresses whether draft SEA/HRA screening reports may be shared with a Parish Council before consultation with the statutory consultees has been undertaken?

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

RE: Neighbourhood Area combining a parished and unparished area.

2025-04-11T11:30:07Z

Same here in the case of Bradford Abbas and Clifton Maybank - the Parish Council (Bradford Abbas) are the responsible body for the whole area, following consultation with the community and approval of the LPA to the NP Area boundary.

I don't believe this could be done via a Neighbourhood Forum because these are precluded from operating in areas where Parish Councils exist.

RE: Neighbourhood Area combining a parished and unparished area.

2025-04-10T11:38:33Z

We had an instance of this (Heversham and Hincaster).

The unparished area (Hincaster) had a Parish Meeting and they agreed that they were content for Heversham Parish Council to act as Neighbourhood Planning Body.

Another issue to be aware of is that a Parish Meeting cannot recieve Neighbourhood CIL so a separate process was needed to approve neighbourhood CIL spending in Hincaster

Neighbourhood Area combining a parished and unparished area.

2025-04-09T12:55:49Z

I have a group of parish councils and parish meetings who want to develope a neighbourhood plan covering their area. A Parish Meeting is classed as an unparished area. All of the guidance I have looked at is very binary. A simple route to take for parishes to be designated, or a different route for unparished areas bto take in order to be designated as a neighbourhood area. Has annyone come across an example where an area covers both parished and unparished ares, and if so what route such an area could be designated? Im hoping that the neighbourhood forum route could be used, but any other views would be appreciated.

RE: Home extensions and planning

2024-07-01T17:59:22Z

Curiously no comments from Herko Darbinis

If this a genuine enquiry or not?

RE: Home extensions and planning

2024-07-01T14:32:25Z

Unless it's a post 1948 house which might be subject to restrictive conditions on its original planning permission, or it's a Listed Building, and in London there is an increased likelihood of an Article 4 direction compared to elsewhere, and probably some other things I've forgotten

RE: Home extensions and planning

2024-07-01T13:21:22Z

Hi All

It is straightforward, if you live in a house in which the whole house is one family unit then the rules of Permitted Development apply, However, if it is not a single-family house the rule of permitted Development does not apply.

You can send me the address and I will advise you.

RE: Home extensions and planning

2024-06-23T18:01:35Z

Have you had any luck following Richard's advice and contacted the Planning team in the Borough where your property is?

they will probably refer you to their pre-application service for a fee.

was the general gudiance link here any use to you?

Let me know and I'll see if I can help further.

Herko Ltd appears to be a building company.

You will need planning permission for a loft extension in London, if it does not comply with permitted development rules.

Best regards,

RE: Home extensions and planning

2024-06-21T08:32:55Z

This is very much a conversation you need to have with the Planning team in the Borough where your property is - but there is some general gudiance here you might want to read as well

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/when-is-permission-required

Home extensions and planning

2024-06-20T10:37:00Z

Hello everyone,

I'm considering a loft extension for my home in London and I'm trying to understand the current legislation and planning permission requirements. I've heard that the rules can be quite specific and vary depending on the borough.

Do I need planning permission for a loft extension in London, or can it fall under permitted development?

Thanks in advance for any advice or insights!

Best regards,

Herko Ltd.

Self Build in Neighbourhood Plans

2024-02-01T11:08:37Z

For anyone working on Neighbourhood Plans there is masterclass next week (WEDS 7th FEB) on how Neighbourhood Plans can be used to facilitate the delivery of custom and self build housing creating opportunities for diversity by bring forward small to medium sized sites for self and custom build.

This session is FREE (gov.uk funded) for neighbourhood planning groups or anyone working on writing/examining neighbourhood plans. To get the free code email Vicky at taskforce@righttobuild.org.uk

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neighbourhood-plans-and-custom-and-self-build-tickets-801472203937

RE: Neighbourhood Forum re-designation, plan consultation & examination tim

2024-01-02T15:52:28Z

So we have moved on and are almost at the end of consulting for just over 6 weeks on the forum "re-designation" and also Reg 16 on the Forum's detailed plan.

But we have recently received indication that an objector is likely to question whether Reg 16 consultation should even have taken place in the absence of an approved forum (it having expired since the plan has been submitted to the council).

While I understand the logic, pragmatically that would have potentially delayed the plan consultation for a considerable time. And given the council's role at Reg 16 is not as a decision maker but effectively as a means to get representations about the plan onto a subsequent examiner, there was no decision for the council realistically to take and so the presence or otherwise of a formally approved forum was not thought about.

I will probably have to seek advice from my own legal colleagues but does anyone have any regulatory or legal feel on this. I realise it is probably unusual that forums expire so soon after actually submitting plans...but then again quite possibly reflects the under-estimate of the time that volunteer-led forums will take getting plans up and running and the very crude expiry mechanism under regulations.

Any advice to think about gratefully received.

RE: Neighbourhood Forum re-designation, plan consultation & examination tim

2023-08-14T12:02:13Z

Hi Andrew

It is not clear from your post when the 5 year Forum designation expires but, as you suggest, it would not be appropriate to submit the Plan for examination until the Forum is formally redesignated.

In terms of timing of the examiner appointment, in our experience most authorities send prospective examination providers a link to the Reg. 16 documents when published online for consultation. Thie enables a proposal to be put together based on an assessment of those documents in terms of anticipated time needed (days) to examine, cost etc, along with the prospective Examiner resume(s) for the authority and qualifying body to consider.

It is quite normal for LPAs to caveat the timing of the submission for examination at Reg 17 subject to any internal/local considerations, and most examiners/providers will invariably be flexible in this regard.

If you want to discuss, my direct email is lee.armitage@intelligentplans.co.uk

Neighbourhood Forum re-designation, plan consultation & examination timing

2023-07-31T10:42:47Z

My authority needs to consult on both a neighbourhood forum re-designation (it expired at the end of last year) and carry out the formal consultation on the plan prior to its examination.

We intend to consult on both at the same time, effectively with the same people anyway.

However I would value any advice about how to manage the examiner/examination timing. It is obviously hoped that the forum designation would simply be rubber-stamped but until this happens we cannot (in my view) proceed to examination.

I was envisaging that we would need to sign up an approved examiner during the consultation period but with the proviso that we cannot passport on any representations or participate in any examination processes prior to the forum being approved.

Any views or experience that people can share would be much appreciated.

RE: SEA Screening of Reg. 14 Draft Neighbourhood Plan

2023-03-07T12:53:16Z

Thank you Susan - that is extremely useful and supports my thinking on this proposed approach.

RE: SEA Screening of Reg. 14 Draft Neighbourhood Plan

2023-03-06T12:08:53Z

My experience of this approach (of just providing outline policies) came via a Consultant from the SE, who named other authorities where this approach had been taken. Having contacted one of them (who I’d previously worked for), they confirmed that they had been misadvised and would not be taking this approach again. Subsequently I spoke to a number of environmental assessors who confirmed that a plan is required and not just an outline of the policies.

Also worth mentioning that prior to Feb 2015,the PPG on ‘Strategic environmental assessment and sustainability appraisal’ advise that a local planning authority (LPA) “should put in place a process to provide a screening opinion to the qualifying body on whether the proposed neighbourhood plan will require a strategic environmental assessment”, but since then the advice has changed and it advises that “as part of its duty to advice or assist, should consider putting in place processes to determine whether the proposed neighbourhood plan will require a strategic environmental assessment”, therefore a LPA is no longer expected to carry a Screening, although it can choose to do this.

RE: Competing Forums for same Neighbourhood Area

2023-02-27T10:02:01Z

Regulations only allow one forum for an area, so you will have to carefully establish (and the bar is pretty low) whether each fulfills the purpose. Of course you could consider them sequentially and consult on them separately. Then the first to be approved would automatically trump the other. I would have thought that effectively renewing an existing forum would be easier since the evaluation will have been done better.

Quite why regulations set an expiry date at all and no renewal process is quite beyond me...but then again the introduction of neighbourhood plans was a rapid and rather cynical political attempt to get neighbourhoods on side to agree to more development. And of course many are set up with exactly the opposite aim...

RE: Competing Forums for same Neighbourhood Area

2023-02-26T11:39:45Z

what exactly is the problem here?

does Guidance not countenance competing forums?

isnt this the nub of democracy and local government? seems you need to devise a process in which the various forces compete for "victory" as the sole forum or in which multi forums are tolerated.