Birmingham’s
Neighbourhood
Planning Toolkit

A resource for residents in Birmingham, UK

Communities have the power to make their local areas even better places to live.

There are several ways to make change happen. This website focuses on Neighbourhood Planning in Birmingham.

A Neighbourhood Plan (NP) is a legal document setting out a community’s wishes for the use and development of land in a designated area. Among other things, it can include policies for protecting green spaces, safeguarding or developing community facilities, and allocating sites for housing. Once an NP is brought into force, council planners must take its policies into account when making planning decisions for that area. An NP gives a community legal powers to influence development and shape the future of where they live and work.

This website reflects two main stages in Neighbourhood Planning:

  • Discover - Explore the issues your community wishes to address and see whether a Neighbourhood Plan (NP) is the right tool to use.

  • Develop - Work with your community to research, draft and refine your NP policies. Submit your NP for independent examination and then a public referendum, so its policies can be brought into force.

While this toolkit can’t create your NP for you, it provides information and inspiration to help you figure out the best ways to enact change in your area of Birmingham.

It is our dream for our area – that the green hills on which our area was founded, and where we all choose to live - may stay green rather than just being an expanse of tarmac and concrete between Birmingham and Walsall”

- an extract from the Beeches, Booths and Barr (3Bs) Neighbourhood Plan

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