1. HACT’s Approach to Neighbourhood
Planning
Patricia A. Jones
HACT’s Partnerships and Insight Manager
Seconded from the Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham
6 September 2012
5. New challenges
• What does the new legislation mean?
• How does it translate on the ground?
• How does it link with the Community Right to
Challenge/Bid and Build?
• Will it sustain?
• Do we have the resources?
• Do local groups have the capacity?
• Will it fit with existing business plans?
• Is it in keeping with core strategies?
• How does it differ from traditional planning?
www.hact.org.uk
6. New opportunities
• To tap into energetic local leadership
• To define the centre and purpose of neighbourhoods
• To build on existing initiatives e.g. co-production,
participatory budgeting
• To shape & stabilise neighbourhoods
• To further engage with residents
• To turn liabilities into assets
• To look wider than land use issues
• To take an ASSET-BASED APPROACH to PEOPLE &
PLACE
7. New partnerships
• With existing local authorities
• With other service providers
• With other asset owners e.g. Transport, health,
water, MoD
• With community sector organisations
• With other housing providers
8. Next steps
• Interested in HACT’s Neighbourhood Planning
Action Learning Programme?
See Mike/Austin/Lucy/Pat
• Interested in HACT’s Community Right to Build
Service?
See John Coburn
www.hact.org.uk
Editor's Notes
There are several organisations supporting the NHP process but HACT has taken an action-learning approach to enable Housing Associations to work on local initiatives while being supported by a team of planners and peer learners.
The programme will take place in a series of workshops over twelve months to give time for participants to explore local possibilities between sessions. The Delivery Team comprises MB and AB – planning lecturers from the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies; LN who is based at Bartlett S/P and has involved local authority communities in planning activities for many years and myself seconded to HACT from the TSRC with a keen interest in community involvement in the built environment. The main aim of the ALP is to establish an on-going GPWG to share experiences and learning across the sector.
HACT is already working in partnership with LOCALITY who will be sharing their knowledge of work done to date with NH Forums within the NHP process
We have discussed the purpose of this programme with members of the Housing Empowerment Network and with organisations like Chamberlain Forum who are monitoring action research projects including NHP. While there are new challenges – inevitable in legislative change in planning reform on this scale there are also new opportunities for HAs as well as new partnership options.
The Localism Act is far reaching and we are yet to thoroughly understand what it can mean in our neighbourhoods. There are clear links between the Community Rights and the Big Society agenda that many organisations are beginning to make yet we are not clear about the sustainability and resilience of models that are emerging. In the current economic climate resources to support and build the capacity of all stakeholders are at the forefront and those HAs already engaged with NHP are conscious that initiatives need to reflect corporate strategies and priorities. Moreover, there is a concern that ‘incorporation’ – falling back into the traditional professional-led planning system might undermine the objective of residents in the lead.
However, as you will shortly hear from James and Matthew, NHP opens up some exciting new opportunities to extend depth and level of engagement with local residents and help to shape and stabilise neighbourhoods in a way that housing providers could not do alone. NHP captures an approach that some housing providers already take to the existing assets of both people and place with the imagination and vision that goes beyond land use issues.
Inevitably NHP offers the opportunity to broker new partnerships with existing partners and well as with new ones and to approach development holistically as new forums for ideas are created.
The NHP Action Learning Programme will start in January and take place over 12 months Alongside this, HACT is offering a CRTB Service and looking to support 5 partnerships (HAs and VCOs to explore CRTB). HACT is offering 5 days support to prepare an application for funding to the HCA/GLA
