Neighbourhood Planning Support Services

The Contract modification shall involve continued provision of the key services for a further 12 months to 31st March 2025, including but not limited to: (a) Basic support - including online resources, expert advice, and networking facilitation; (b) Grants - provision of both basic and additional grants to Customers to fund the neighbourhood planning activities; (c) Technical Support - provision of specialist, Technical Support packages to deliver specific outputs linked to Ministerial priorities on housing, design and supporting communities to establish neighbourhood planning groups in unparished areas. The Contract also includes potential continued provision of pilots and other additional services, including but not limited to: (a) provision of data collection and publication of housing supply and delivery (completions) in neighbourhood planning areas; (b) provision of data collection and management services for planning related information, including access to open data and maximising the use of digital tools; (c) provision of publicly accessible planning-related digital tools and mapping services; and/or (d) provision of similar Technical Support services to relevant stakeholders for the purposes of preparing Local and other statutory plans. Where it is considered necessary to satisfy genuine, unexpected and robustly evidenced increases or changes in demand, the Authority continues to reserve the right to re-profile, increase or decrease annual budgets. The Contract shall also provide comprehensive exit services over a 12 month 'Tail-end' period from 1st April 2025, to ensure appropriate completion / closure of all pre-commissioned, outstanding legacy support packages awarded to customers.