Troy Planning + Design

19/12/2025

Study Tour 2025 🇳🇱🚲
From Merwede in Utrecht (a new neighbourhood designed for low car use) to Houten, a town planned around walking and cycling since the 1970s, and finishing in Rotterdam for context and contrast.

What stayed with us wasn’t a policy or a diagram, but the lived experience.
Cycling between Houten and Utrecht at rush hour, in the dark, was calm, legible and stress-free - a reminder that good mobility planning is measured in how it feels to use, in ordinary conditions.

Based in Utrecht, these aren’t abstract case studies for us, but places we move through regularly and draw on directly in our work across the UK, US and Europe.

More reflections from the tour coming in the new year.
Read the full story on our website — link in bio.

10/12/2025

Victoria Neighbourhood Plan has passed referendum 💚

Residents and business ratepayers voted “Yes” to make the Plan — a major milestone for the Victoria Neighbourhood Forum and the community.

Once formally adopted by Westminster City Council, it will form part of the statutory development plan, shaping decisions and guiding investment in this unique part of central London.

Troy Planning + Design is proud to have supported the Forum through every stage from early engagement to drafting, examination and referendum.

10/12/2025

We’re delighted to announce that the Victoria Neighbourhood Plan has been successful at referendum, with both residents and business rate payers voting “Yes” to making the Plan. This marks a significant milestone for the Victoria Neighbourhood Forum and the local community.

Once formally adopted by Westminster City Council, the Plan will become part of the statutory development plan for Westminster, shaping planning decisions and guiding growth and investment in this unique part of central London.

Victoria is a dynamic and diverse area. It sits at the historic heart of Westminster, combining world-class transport connections with a rich mix of homes, offices, cultural venues, and heritage assets. The Plan sets out a vision for a greener, safer, and more inclusive Victoria – transforming Victoria Street into a high-quality, green avenue, improving public spaces, and enhancing walking and cycling routes. It also promotes sustainable design, biodiversity, and resilience to climate change, alongside projects to strengthen the area’s cultural identity and support community facilities.

Beyond planning policy, the Forum is actively progressing wider initiatives, including the greening of Victoria Street and wider improvements to the public realm. These projects will help deliver a healthier, more attractive environment for residents, workers, and visitors.

Troy Planning + Design is proud to have supported the Forum through every stage of the process – from early engagement to drafting the Plan and guiding it through examination and referendum. Congratulations to everyone involved in shaping a bold and forward-looking vision for Victoria.

See more on our website! ⬇️
https://troyplanning.com/victoria-neighbourhood-plan-passes-referendum/

17/11/2025

Back in Kingswood 💛
This is where our neighbourhood planning journey first began back in 2016 and it was amazing to return this autumn to kick off the Kingswood Neighbourhood Plan
Review.
We held an interactive workshop with residents to explore ideas for the parish, village centre, using big maps, local knowledge, and lots of lively discussion. We also brought along some of our new Al co-design visuals with simple prompts that help everyone imagine how small changes could shape the feel of the village centre.
Not “designs”, just tools to spark conversation and explore possibilities together.
The online consultation is open until 8
December, and we’re excited to keep supporting the community as the plan evolves.
Swipe to see moments from the workshop

13/11/2025

The UK Government’s New Towns Taskforce has designated Milton Keynes as a “renewed town,” aiming for 40,000 new homes and strengthened regional links through connected, sustainable growth. This resonates with Troy Planning + Design’s 2017 ‘Million Keynes’ concept, which envisioned a fully integrated city-region with Milton Keynes at its core, connecting Oxford, Cambridge, and other towns via sustainable travel routes. We are excited about this national momentum and look forward to shaping Milton Keynes’ future as a connected city. Read more by clicking the link below! https://troyplanning.com/million-keynes-connecting-growth-across-the-region/

17/04/2025

Community Engagement for Town Centres, Neighbourhood Plans and Design Codes
Troy Planning + Design has kicked off 2025 engaging with local communities across England with a number of successful open days consulting on emerging ideas for improving the vitality and accessibility of town centres, enabling sustainable travel modes, designating local green spaces, preparing design codes, enable urban housing delivery, designating key views, protecting local heritage and many other ideas!

These include:
Rushden, Northamptonshire where we have prepared a draft Town Centre Design Code aimed at better accessibility, public realm improvements, bringing green infrastructure into the town, diversifying uses and we are updating the Neighbourhood Plan.

Amesbury, Wiltshire which is the oldest continuous living settlement in England (dating back over 8500 years BC) - we have developed ideas for improving the historic character of the town centre with mobility experts Goudappel, improving connectivity to Stonehenge and enhancing the tourism economy for the town. This is Amesbury’s first Neighbourhood Plan.

Hailsham, East Sussex where the review of the Neighbourhood Plan and a new Design Code for the town has been supported by several public drop-in events held alongside sessions with the Chambers of Commerce, the ‘Young at Heart’ club, the Natural and Historical Society and Year 11 Geography pupils at the College. The made Neighbourhood Plan is based around the concept of Hailsham being a ‘ten-minute town’. People were asked to comment on the relevance of this going forward with the overwhelmingly majority signalling their support for the concept.

27/03/2025

REVIEW OF THAME NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN SUCCESSFUL AT REFERENDUM

Excellent news from Thame (Oxfordshire) where the review of the Neighbourhood Plan (‘TNP2’) has been successful at referendum with a 90% ‘yes’ vote in favour of making the Plan.

TNP2 represents a major overhaul of the first Neighbourhood Plan – one of the first neighbourhood plans following the Localism Act. TNP2 brings all policies up-to-date and in line with the NPPF and Local Plan, and introduces new policies that address changing agendas such as climate change, social inclusion and healthy lifestyles.

TNP2 allocates six sites for development, supporting new housing and employment growth, as well as mixed use development in the Town Centre. It is underpinned by an extensive site assessment and selection process, community engagement, characterisation and masterplanning of development opportunities.

Alongside policies TNP2 introduces a set of wider aspirations and projects for infrastructure investment and which include ideas such as creating a network of community mobility hubs and delivering a street greening programme.

TNP2 covers the period to 2041.

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16/05/2024

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act introduces the ability for community groups to produce Neighbourhood Priority Statements, but what are they and why might you prepare one? We’ve prepared a Briefing paper to help answer these questions…

A Neighbourhood Priority Statement (NPS) is intended to be a ‘simpler and more accessibleway’ (than a Neighbourhood Plan) for communities to set out their key priorities andpreferences for their local areas. The idea is that the NPS will summarise the principal needsand views of the community in...

15/05/2024

A WARM WELCOME TO THE LATEST ADDITION TO OUR TEAM!

Nora Leonie Anders joined the Utrecht team as a Graduate Urban Planner in March. Prior to joining us, Nora studied Urbanism at TU Delft and Architecture in Hannover Germany (Leibniz Universität) with a particular interest in strategic planning and urban design.

Since joining Troy Planning + Design Nora has been preparing community engagement workshops, undertaking site and area analyses, preparing neighbourhood plan policies and local heritage lists.

We asked Nora more about her background and interests: https://troyplanning.com/2024/05/warm-welcome-to-the-latest-addition-to-our-team/

15/05/2024

NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING GRANTS AND SUPPORT PROGRAMME CONFIRMED BY DLUHC FOR 2024/2025

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has confirmed that support for groups preparing neighbourhood plans will continue during 2024/2025. It is anticipated that the application window will open this month.

Troy Planning + Design has many years of successful experience helping groups prepare their applications.If you are a neighbourhood group that requires support preparing an application for grant funding and consultancy support preparing a neighbourhood plan please feel free to get in touch with us:
[email protected]

All groups undertaking a neighbourhood plan or neighbourhood development order are eligible to apply for the Basic Grant up to £10,000. Groups meeting additional eligibility criteria are able to apply for an Additional Grant of up to £8,000. This will take the total amount of grant available to you to £18,000.