The Prince’s Foundation is pleased to announce that our grant agreement with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has been extended until the end of July 2012. This enables us to continue the Communities and Neighbourhoods in Planning programme of support to communities planning for the future of their neighbourhood through collaborative planning events.

Over the period from the launch of the programme in April 2011 to the end of March 2012 we delivered 85 events across England, including scoping meetings and workshops, planning reset events, community planning and Enquiry by Design workshops, attended by over 4,350 local residents and business representatives, local authority officers and elected members and other stakeholders.

During the period from April to July 2012 we will be focusing on providing support to Neighbourhood Planning Frontrunner schemes.

Applications for support April-July 2012 and beyond

Given the overwhelming interest in the programme we now have a full list of workshops scheduled until the end of July 2012 and unfortunately are not able to support any further communities within the extension period.

Pending the decision by DCLG, the Prince's Foundation is keen to hear from communities who feel that they may benefit from our assistance in the future. Please fill in an application form and we will be in touch later in the year, once DCLG has confirmed the providers and type of support to be made available in 2012-13.

Details of the support offered

DCLG has set up the Communities and Neighbourhoods in Planning programme to enable organisations like ours to provide technical assistance and guidance to communities related to neighbourhood planning, free of charge. The Government wants to encourage a discussion between the planners and the people of the area, so the development that takes place better reflects the needs of the local community and inspire a greater sense of civic responsibility.

We feel that this is an opportunity to encourage collaborative working between Local Authorities and communities. To do this we offer three types of collaborative planning event:

1. Planning “Reset”

 A one-to-two day public engagement focused on scenarios where planning proposals are in dispute because of previous failure to engage the community, failure to consider environmental or traffic implications, or other deficiency in the plan, putting local residents at loggerheads with developers and/or the local authority. The Prince’s Foundation acts as an impartial mediator and facilitator and provides a summary of the event outcomes in a report to the community.

2. Community Planning Workshop Scenario

A two-three day collaborative event focusing on capacity building amongst community representatives, identifying key issues and developing proposals for change at village or town neigbourhood level and including analysis of potential funding and finance mechanisms for implementation. The Prince’s Foundation provides project management, independent facilitation and guidance, technical support in the run-up to and during the event and summarises the results of the workshop in a report to the community.  

3. The Enquiry by Design (EbD) stakeholder engagement process.

A three-four day event aimed at enabling rapid, joined-up decision making on large scale planning issues (such as a large housing/neighbourhood proposals) by bringing together the local authority, developer, landholder, community representatives and technical consultants at the outset of the design process. The early stages of an EbD involve gathering local opinion, identifying an authentic and consistent community voice, examining site constraints and opportunities, and the iteration of specific technical issues that need to be tested at a further stage of enquiry.  The research stage is followed by a workshop at which development proposals are drawn up to reflect community aspirations alongside developer expectations of return. The Prince’s Foundation provides project management, independent facilitation and guidance, technical support in the run-up to and during the event and summarises the results of the workshop in a report to the community.  

Criteria for Support

As part of the programme we are able to support the following groups:

·        A community body truly representative of a wide range of local views on development.

·        A local authority / planning department furthering the localism agenda by seeking to work collaboratively with the local community.

·        A developer who'll work with the local community and planning department to further proposals for sustainable, contextual scheme designs.  We may require developers to contribute to the resourcing of collaborative planning events.