About Local Visions
Birmingham City Council (BCC) wants communities across the city to have more power to shape their local areas. The council set out its approach to this in the 2019 white paper ‘Working Together in Birmingham’s Neighbourhoods’.
In 2022 BCC commissioned Birmingham Community Matters and Locality to develop a guide to Neighbourhood Planning for Birmingham.
Together we have been working with Birmingham-based community organisations to understand what is needed for more people across the city to develop a Neighbourhood Plan (NP) for - and with - their local community. This Birmingham Neighbourhood Planning Toolkit is a key part of our support.
Our work has been funded through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Neighbourhood Planning Pilots Programme.
BCC also has an internal toolkit to help council officers, planners, councillors and others to understand the support available to Birmingham communities.
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Neighbourhood Development and Support Unit
Birmingham City Council’s Neighbourhood Development and Support Unit (NDSU) will support you at every stage in your Neighbourhood Planning journey, from initial conversations about whether a Neighbourhood Plan is the right tool for you to use, through to follow-up meetings when your NP has been brought into force.
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Birmingham Community Matters (BCM)
BCM is a charity supporting people to set up, run or grow small community groups in Birmingham, offering networking, signposting and peer learning.
BCM holds events in community venues across the city where you can sit down with BCM helpers to talk through your ideas and challenges.
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Locality
Locality is the national membership network that supports community organisations to be strong and successful.
Locality also offers technical support for individual Neighbourhood Planning Forums across the country. Through this, a specialist adviser can help you with specific issues or assessments relating to your Neighbourhood Plan.