Community

Category Background

To ensure that the development supports a vibrant, diverse and inclusive community which integrates with surrounding communities.

“Sustainable communities depend upon the effective delivery of community infrastructure. Given the expected growth in the region’s population, there will inevitably be a need for additional investment in community infrastructure – childcare; community centres; village halls; places of worship; fire and rescue stations; leisure centres; libraries; police stations; social services facilities; and waste and recycling facilities. ” Draft South East Plan Part 1: Core Regional Policies – July 2005 Section D9 para 11.1

Well planned and designed community infrastructure provides places for people to meet and interact as well as meeting specific needs such as attending a meeting or going for a swim. In times of increasing mobility and distance from families, community facilities can help to create a vibrant community of place, rather than a dormitory settlement where people never meet their neighbours and travel elsewhere for leisure and services.

Facilities need to be appropriate to the existing and predicted new community, and should be planned to create inclusive communities, removing barriers and encouraging positive interaction between groups. They are part of building communities where people feel confident that they belong and are comfortable mixing and interacting with others.

Information about local facilities needs to be provided so that residents, visitors and workers know what is available in the locality and are encouraged to use them from the start – habits form quickly and are hard to break.

Building community facilities is only half the story – once in place they need to be managed, and often involving the local community in their management increases their sense of ownership and therefore use of the amenity. Strategies for medium and long term management and funding / revenue generation are crucial at an early stage. Where large scale community based infrastructure is to be provided (SUDS, Neighbourhood Heating etc), community management companies or development trusts may be appropriate.

“Pre-application discussions are critically important and benefit both developers and local planning authorities in ensuring a better mutual understanding of objectives and the constraints that exist. In the course of such discussions proposals can be adapted to ensure that they better reflect community aspirations and that applications are complete and address all the relevant issues. Local planning authorities and applicants should take a positive attitude towards early engagement in pre-application discussions so that formal applications can be dealt with in a more certain and speedy manner and the quality of decisions can be better assured.” DCLG: PPS 1 Para 12

Community involvement in planning should not be a reactive, tick-box, process. It should enable the local community to say what sort of place they want to live in at a stage when this can make a difference. Effective community involvement requires an approach which:

  • tells communities about emerging policies and proposals in good time;
  • enables communities to put forward ideas and suggestions and participate in developing proposals and options. It is not sufficient to invite them to simply comment once these have been worked up;
  • consults on formal proposals;
  • ensures that consultation takes place in locations that are widely accessible;
  • provides and seeks feedback.
DCLG: PPS 1 Para 43

PPS 1 stresses the need for communities to be engaged in shaping proposals, not just in commenting on pre-formed plans.

“There is a need for a positive and planned approach to intensification, with clear guidance set out in Local Development Documents and/or Supplementary Planning Documents, based upon neighbourhood assessments of character and capacity with the full involvement of the local community and key service providers. A quick and simple ‘healthcheck’ of social and physical capital can be a useful starting point for identifying priorities” Draft South East Plan Part 1: Core Regional Policies – July 2005 Section D4 para 3.7

Intensification is likely to require the provision of new community facilities. Interaction with statutory and voluntary bodies, and the local community, helps to ensure that needs are prioritised and resources spent wisely on meeting the needs of the neighbourhood. Services and facilities will usually need to meet the needs of the existing and new community, and should be planned so that the surrounding community does not feel excluded, and the new development contributes to the sustainability of the neighbourhood as a whole.

With these policy issues in mind, this section of the checklist addresses:
  • Ensuring that the development makes a positive impact on the existing community
  • The degree of community participation in the development proposal
  • The provision of information about local facilities to residents and workers
  • Management of community facilities