Fiona
Bruce MP calls for improvement to Neighbourhood Plan process
In a debate on
the DCLG Select Committee report on the NPPF in the House of Commons last
Thursday, Fiona Bruce stated:
Fiona Bruce
(Congleton) (Con): May I
congratulate the Committee on an excellent report? Suspension of the local plan
for Cheshire East council, covering my constituency, is causing untold concern
in areas such as Congleton, Sandbach and Alsager, despite a huge of volume of
work by Cheshire East council. I therefore thank the Committee for highlighting
many points, including the need for clarification of what sustainable
development actually means, the need to facilitate partial adoption, and the
inclusion of housing consents in planning numbers, which would go a long way to
help my council in finalising its plan.
In the
meantime, while the Minister considers those points, will the Chair of the
Committee join me in asking Ministers to speed up the process for the
formulation
of neighbourhood
plans? No fewer than 14 such plans are now in train in the Cheshire East area,
but these are small communities. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there
should be a clear, quick process, free of bureaucracy and with the appropriate
resources and support, so that the plans can finalised in early course?
Mr Betts: There is widespread support for the concept of
neighbourhood plans, but there is some concern that poorer communities may not
be able to adopt the process as easily as more affluent ones. That goes back to
the issue of the relative status of neighbourhood and local plans if, for
example, 14 neighbourhood plans are being developed but there is no local plan.
We think
that the definition of sustainable development in the NPPF is a good one—it
draws on Brundtland and on the five principles—and we do not want to change it.
The problem is that the definition goes on to say that sustainable development
is defined by everything in the NPPF, and we thought that that rather circular
argument was unnecessary.
