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Last revised November 20, 2013

Planning decides where Houses, Shops, Hospitals, Leisure Facilities and Schools are built. It decides where roads should go and where things like Offices, Hotels, Factories and Power Stations should be put. It also protects what is valuable in your area, like special buildings, local character or open spaces.

The planning system affects the way you live and if you want to have a say in how your community deals with changes in your area, you need to understand how you can get involved.

You can work with other local residents to respond to development proposals for your area, and set out your own ideas about how your area or part of your area should be developed.

There are two main branches of planning in which the community can get involved in Bristol and through the NPN:-

  • setting out the way in which development should happen through Strategic Planning including Neighbourhood Area Plans
  • managing or controlling individual development proposals through Development Management.

The Local Planning Authority (LPA) is Bristol City Council.