The Houghton Neighbourhood Plan (NP) may allocate key sites for housing but has no influence on the overall number of new dwellings ascribed to the neighbourhood area by the local planning authority during the lifetime of its Local Plan. A Neighbourhood can, following extensive consultation, formulate policies on how many of each type of dwelling can be built and in which locations, as well as giving more detailed guidance on such things as the design and layout of housing.

Neighbourhood Plans must be able to show that their policies are deliverable. For this reason the Neighbourhood Planning Quick-Guide (p.10) offers the following advice:

"Careful consideration should be made of how the plan will be delivered and this will require constructive dialogue with key stakeholders, such as development managers in the local authority, public agencies, landowners and developers."

Developers are key stakeholders in the actual delivery of new housing - it is literally their business. The Houghton community is well aware that there is no shortage of developers with an interest in Houghton and aspirations to build in many different locations. Some developers have been successful in obtaining planning permission before the neighbourhood plan has been accepted by the community at a referendum and adopted by Harborough District Council (HDC).

The HDC Local Plan requires that we do have some development, so we need developers to be prepared to enter into constructive discussions and be encouraged to incorporate the needs and wishes of the community into their development plans.

To promote such discussions the Neighbourhood Plan Working Party (NPWP) set up a panel of its own members who were tasked with meeting developers who have interests within the designated area of the NDP. To ensure a planned, consistent approach the NPWP adopted a written protocol for how these discussions would be carried out (see links below for details).