Getting real about localism

I was lucky enough to be at the excellent RTPI Planning Convention in London on Tuesday this week.

As always, it was interesting to hear different perspectives on the future of planning. One particularly useful session was a discussion on the future of neighbourhood planning called Getting Real About Localism.

Among others, senior Planning Aid England advisor John Romanski gave a very interesting talk about this and the advice, guidance and support they provide to local communities to create neighbourhood plans.

One he highlighted was Lawrence Weston in Bristol, who had created a video that sets out what they wanted to achieve.

It’s very nicely done and uses an engaging medium to explain neighbourhood development plans to the community. Watch the video on their website.

Another point he stressed was that neighbourhood plans are not only for affluent areas of the country but for everyone.

Finally, while we’re talking about neighbourhood plans, it’s worth mentioning again the crowd-sourced map developed by our friends at Boilerhouse Media.