Balsall Heath park

In April it was announced that Balsall Heath is to be one of the first pilot neighbourhoods in Britain to create a Neighbourhood Plan under the new Localism Bill which will control future development.

The first 17 communities to undertake neighbourhood planning, a key feature of the Localism Bill, were named by Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark.

The Town and Country Planning Association, which campaigns for the reform of the UK’s planning system to make it more responsive to people’s needs and aspirations and to promote sustainable development, comments: “The new Localism Bill is an opportunity to enshrine an effective and open system which allows communities to face up to and tackle the major challenges, as well as deliver the kind of visionary sustainable development which can help deliver a low carbon economy and better places to live.”

This was sent in by a resident of Balsall Heath after reading an account of the transformative work of the Balsall Heath Forum and Balsall Heath is Our Planet.