This stage involves gathering baseline information about the issues you might cover in your plan. The information will help when you come to consult local people and find out what they think about different topics.
The Neighbourhood Plan should reflect what the community wants to see happen. This will involve responding to:
- local issues
- opportunities
- problems
- the needs and wishes of local people
You might already have a parish or town plan which contains some of the information you need. This can be used as a starting point when developing a Neighbourhood Plan. You may wish to review the parish or town plan as part of the process.
Your plan might cover a wide range of issues affecting the area, or it could be focussed on one or two. We have written a guide note on 'General development principles'. This will help establish your overall approach to development in the area. There are other guide notes in this section to help you through this stage of the process. These provide guidance on baseline information. They also give pointers on the range of questions you might address under each heading.