Neighbourhood planning can be used for a variety of purposes, for example:

  • identify where new housing, employment and community facilities should be built
  • have a say on how new buildings will look
  • grant planning permission for new development that a community wants

Local neighbourhood forums and parish councils have a greater influence over new development in their local area by preparing Neighbourhood Plans and Orders.

Neighbourhood Development Plan

Neighbourhood Development Plans are commonly known as neighbourhood plans. The plan must be in conformity with national planning policy and the strategic policies of the adopted development plan.

Neighbourhood Development Order

There are two types of Neighbourhood Development Order:

  • Neighbourhood Development Order – communities will have the power to grant permission for certain types of development in their area without the need to seek formal planning permission from Oldham Council. As with a Neighbourhood Plan, a Neighbourhood Development Order must meet certain conditions, such as conforming to national and strategic policies.
  • Community Right to Build Order – This is a specific type of Neighbourhood Development Order used to grant planning permission for small scale development for community benefit on a specific site (or sites) in a neighbourhood area.

How to prepare a Neighbourhood Development Plan

An introduction to Neighbourhood Planning and the policy context is provided in the Statement below. The Statement is also intended to set out clearly what the council’s role is in Neighbourhood Planning and how decisions will be made in relation to the Council’s responsibilities for Neighbourhood Planning.

Neighbourhood Planning in Oldham

Currently, there are two neighbourhood areas designated in Oldham. These are Saddleworth and Chadderton.

The map shows the neighbourhood areas in Oldham:

If you are interested in preparing a neighbourhood plan, please contact a member of strategic planning on 0161 770 1670 or 8175 for more information.