Neighbourhood Planning Grants and Support Programme

The Neighbourhood Planning Support Programme is provided with funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), previously known as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The Government has allocated more than £45 million for the programme between 2018 and 2024.

Locality is managing the support and application process on behalf of DLUHC.

Groundwork are the programme’s grant administrators and are managing the grants once approved, including making grant payments and monitoring.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced in England by the Localism Act 2011 to give people a chance to decide how their local area should be developed and what should be built in the future. Groups will be able to determine where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built and have a say on what new buildings should look like.

The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have extended funding for grants and Technical Support packages for a seventh year (2024/2025).

Objectives of Fund

The programme provides both grant and technical support for local communities that are drawing up a neighbourhood plan for their area.

Who Can Apply

Town and parish councils, neighbourhood forums and prospective neighbourhood forums preparing a neighbourhood development plan or neighbourhood development order in England may apply.

The programme is particularly keen to help ambitious groups, from all types of neighbourhoods, who want to really influence how their place grows and changes going into the future.

To apply for an additional grant of up to £8,000, applicants must be at least one of the following:

• Allocating sites for housing.
• Including design codes in their plans.
• A designated business neighbourhood plan.
• A cluster of three or more parishes writing a single plan.
• A Neighbourhood Area with a population of more than 25,000.
• A designated neighbourhood forum.
• A group based in an area which has a high level of deprivation (where 30% or more of the neighbourhood area or population is in the 20% most deprived areas in England according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation).

Eligible applicants must be based in England.

Eligible Expenditure

The funding is for costs associated with developing a neighbourhood plan or a neighbourhood development order.

The grant funding must be spent within 12 months or by the end of the financial year, whichever is earliest.

Funding can be used for a number of different things, including, but not limited to:

• Training sessions for members of the steering group.
• Help with putting together a project plan.
• Public indemnity insurance (if applicant is a neighbourhood forum and this is not already in place).
• Help with developing the evidence base and analysing it to identify issues and aims for the plan or order.
• Undertaking a housing survey.
• Engaging a facilitator to help with capacity building, for community consultation or workshops.
• Developing a website.
• Costs associated with planning and undertaking public engagement and consulting on the plan or order.
• Engaging a planning expert to help draft policies.
• Support for making site allocations.
• Contribution to required specialist studies.
• Contribution to undertaking a strategic environmental assessment (SEA).
• Support with undertaking the six week pre-submission consultation.
• Support with collecting and analysing responses from the six week pre-submission consultation and deciding how to modify the neighbourhood plan.
• Help with understanding whether the plan is ready for examination (meeting the basic conditions and other legal requirements).
• Provide training in the legal requirements which will be tested at the examination stage.
• Venue hire.
• Publicity materials.
• Printing.
• Virtual meeting platforms (eg, Zoom or Skype).
• Online survey tools.
• Improvement to website accessibility.

How To Apply

Applications for the 2024/25 funding round are now open.

The guidance notes for grant and technical support as well as other relevant documents can be found on the Locality website.

There is a two stage application process:

• The first stage is to complete an Expression of Interest (EoI) form. The answers will determine what support they are eligible for and generate the relevant application form.
• Groups will be automatically directed to the relevant application form which they can begin to complete immediately. The application form needs to be completed within 15 days.

Groups can apply for both grant and technical support at once on the same application form.

For more information please visit the websites below:

Neighbourhood Planning – Groundwork

Home – Locality Neighbourhood Planning