ABSTRACT
This chapter takes its lead from an identified need for greater appreciation of the dynamics and contradictions of place-making, the microdynamics of process and the management or removal of tension and dissensus in planning (Parker and Street, 2015; Brownill, 2017; Brownill and Bradley, 2017; Vigar et al, 2017). The starting point is the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in relation to which the inter-relations between the different objectives of sustainable development and the implications of this for lower level planning are explored, to highlight the latent tensions that remain and are excluded from consideration by the NPPF. Subsequently, discussion broadens to consider the diverse perspectives of different stakeholders involved in neighbourhood planning, while simultaneously narrowing to attend in detail to three environmentally oriented themes: the environment, the Green Belt and sustainability. The implications of these divergent understandings for effective neighbourhood planning are explored, along with the inherent barriers to the resolution of conflicting agendas in this context. The discussion highlights that such tensions are unlikely to dissipate as they are sustained by the hierarchy of priorities imposed by the NPPF and because such divergent underlying understandings are not explicitly attended to in the neighbourhood planning process.
