Neighbourhood Planning in London: devolution enabled, or devolution denied

Neighbourhood planning is progressing in England and now encompasses over 2500 groups, of which over 700 have a “made” Neighbourhood Plan approved by a majority vote in a local referendum. London remains an anomaly with retarded progress and evidence of council obstruction. In the context of national research, the model of community organisation, in the form of “neighbourhood forums” devised under the Localism Act 2011 to deliver neighbourhood planning, is deeply flawed. A neighbourhood planning index has been produced to indicate the varied progress by London boroughs. Evidence is presented essentially of devolution denied, and antipathy to “community localism”, even though, in two boroughs devolution has been enabled.