Can Neighbourhood Plan's help reduce carbon?

During 2023, I worked closely with Three Dragons, providing support to viability and housing demand studies. We had an interesting project that summer assessing whether the policies within the draft Chippenham Neighbourhood Plan would be 'viable'.

Just to define the term 'viable' quickly, this is the money left over to pay for land once all policy costs, build costs and the developers (reasonable) profit were accounted for. Its known as 'Net Residual Value' (NRV). If the NRV is a minus figure, this means that there would be no money available to buy the land in the first place. The scheme would be 'unviable'. Not worth pursuing.

Below is summary of the basic calculation:

Hopefully you are still with me....

The Draft Chippenham Neighbourhood Plan was interesting as its probably the first neighbourhood plan I'm aware of, where a viability study was considered necessary for it to pass its examination. This was due to the plan proposing development requirements, including 'Net Zero', which were in excess the requirements of Wiltshire council's existing policies.

Chippenham town council deserve a lot of credit for proposing such ambitious policies. They have clearly taken the challenge of climate change very seriously, including understanding how improving the built environment to help.

The report, which informed the Plan's 'Regulation 16 Consultation' can now be found on Wiltshire council's website. Additional info can also be found on the Three Dragons website. The report finds that most types of development usually found in Chippenham is likely to be viable, even to 'Net Zero' standards. The plan was consequently 'Made' (i.e. adopted) in May 2024.

In the past, I've provided support to 3x neighbourhood plans and a Community Right to Build Order. They were all really rewarding. Readers who are preparing neighbourhood plans, do get in touch. It can help greatly to have an experienced planner such as myself on your project team.