neighbourhood plans

How successful is the Big Society? Has it been proved to work in rural areas through Neighbourhood Planning? For me the jury is still out – but Nick Boles as show in this article is, not surprisingly, bullish

The Big Society is alive and well in the Coalition’s controversial planning reforms, Nick Boles has said.

The planning minister admitted that the concept of the Big Society had initially been “mocked” by some people but said that it has now “become real” through new planning rules.

The planning minister has in recent years angered countryside campaigners who claim that his reforms are leading to unwanted development is some of the UK’s most precious rural areas.

Changes to planning rules, brought in last year, introduced a new “presumption of sustainable development” to force through more housing proposals. Councils which fail to adopt local plans setting out where building can take place are at risk from developers.

Speaking at a British Property Federation at the Tate Modern gallery in London, Mr Boles evoked the Tory party’s 2010 manifesto claim that it was an “invitation to join the Government of Britain”.

“You may remember, though many of you won’t, that when the Conservative Party launched the election campaign for the last election it was terms an ‘invitation to the people of Britain to join the government of Britain’ or some such phrase,” Mr Boles said.

“And I think it’s fair to say that it was a concept that was somewhat mocked it the media at the time. But if you want to see where that invitation has become real and where the whole concept of the Big Society in in fact happening then look no further than the 800 communities in England that are engaged in neighbourhood plans.”