Parish councils and community groups across the Canterbury district can now access step-by-step guidance on creating neighbourhood plans — legally binding documents that decide where homes, shops and community buildings can be built.
Residents in villages across Canterbury district who want a say in what gets built near them have a new resource to help. Canterbury City Council published a neighbourhood planning toolkit on 21 September 2026, aimed at parish councils, community groups and anyone who wants a hand in shaping how their area develops.
A neighbourhood plan is a community-led document setting out planning policies for a specific area — in plain terms, it decides where new homes, offices, shops and community buildings can go, what they should look like, and what infrastructure’s needed alongside them. Once adopted, it becomes part of the formal Development Plan, which means planning applications must take it into account.
Cllr Alan Baldock, Leader of Canterbury City Council, said: “There is no doubt that sometimes the planning and Local Plan processes can make people feel this stuff is being done to them rather than bringing them on the journey. Neighbourhood plans are an opportunity for communities to shape development in their area using their knowledge of what everyone locally needs.” He also pointed to money — adopted neighbourhood plans can unlock access to the Community Infrastructure Levy, a pot collected from developers to fund local improvements.
Bridge Parish Council adopted its neighbourhood plan in 2024 and offers a useful illustration of what the process actually involves. It’s not a light undertaking. Cllr Alan Atkinson, chairman of Bridge Parish Council, said: “It’s certainly hard work to see to completion, but all concerned know that an adopted Neighbourhood Plan, which then becomes the plan of any higher local authority, will have been minutely examined by the planning experts; a Plan which has also demonstrated, via a referendum, that it has the support of the local residents.” That testing, he said, gives “all concerned, at every level of local government, the complete confidence to prioritise and fully support a Neighbourhood Plan, and thereby the local residents, with whatever resources might be made available.”
Seven other parishes are already working on their own plans: Adisham, Chartham, Chestfield, Chislet, Fordwich, Hoath and Thanington.
The toolkit covers four main areas — understanding what a neighbourhood plan can achieve; engaging with local people; creating an evidence base; and writing the plan itself. It also sets out the formal steps required and explains how Canterbury City Council can support groups through the process.
The toolkit is available through the Canterbury Newsroom at news.canterbury.gov.uk.Canterbury Council publishes planning toolkit to help villages shape their own future Quiz
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