Drawing on a mix of policy learning and new institutionalist theory, the paper sets out the empirical evidence regarding the unfolding of neighbourhood planning (NP) in England during more than ten years of participatory practice. What has been learned about how this policy has been shaped reflexively by institutional actors is reviewed, drawing on two significant national research studies. The contribution of the paper is to provide a detailed consideration of neighbourhood planning as practiced over a decade and the policy iterations that have featured in that time, including what this tells us conceptually. We conclude this process has produced a range of neighbourhood planning forms that are reflected through the interplay of institutionalised agency, local conditions, policy iterations and varied community-local scale dynamics.