Supplementary memorandum from English
Partnerships
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: INFRASTRUCTURE
A key part of the Sustainable Communities Plan
is the necessary provision of "infrastructure" to support
sustainable growth. Indeed, a key function of English Partnerships
is to help bring forward sites for development to include the
early procurement of local infrastructure.
The Sustainable Communities Plan sets out the
overall policy framework and structures within which decisions
will be made and action taken. The introduction of Regional Housing
Strategies and Regional Spatial Strategies are design to achieve
improved and integrated forward planning of development and infrastructure
requirements taking wider economic, social and environmental impacts
into account. Guidance on Strategic Environmental Assessment and
Regional Sustainability Appraisals has also been introduced to
help support this process.
Changes to the Planning system at the local
authority level through the new Local Development Frameworks,
Community Strategies and Local Transport Plans will aid with grater
integration of plans and decision making.
The Government is also looking to reduce stress
and pressure on infrastructure by improving the planning and design
of new communities so that they are accessible to public transport
and local facilities and are built to high standards of sustainability
thereby reducing power and water consumption. English Partnerships
is heavily involved in this agenda with its work on design codes
and standards. Consultation on the Building Regulations has recently
ended and it is envisaged that these changes will bring about
a 25% improvement in energy efficiency. Along with other work
on standards (Sustainable Buildings Code), which EP is heavily
involved with, these will bring substantial enhancements in the
performance of buildings, thereby reducing the stress on infrastructure.
There have also been a number of proposals to
improve the local environment and management of the public realm
through the introduction of a £201 million fund covering:
— Living Spaces scheme (£30 million)—giving
direct help to communities to transform spaces on their doorstep.
— Liveability Fund (£89 million)—to
improve local authority service delivery and physical improvements.
— Support for Groundwork (£40
million).
— Support for CABE and urban design
skills (£34 million)—including the creation of CABE
Space to champion public spaces.
— A special grants programme (£6
million).
GROWTH AREAS
INFRASTRUCTURE
Accelerating the growth areas requires up-front
provision of transport, health, education and environment infrastructure.
A Cabinet Committee (MISC 22) has been set up to bring together
top level Ministers, chaired by the Prime Minister, from relevant
Government Departments to drive forward the growth areas.
The Government has taken the need for additional
transport and non-transport infrastructure into account through
the additional funding allocated to the growth areas (£446
million in Thames Gateway and £164 million in the remaining
three), the establishment of delivery vehicles such as the Urban
Development Corporations (UDCs) in Thames Gateway and similar
bodies in Milton Keynes and Northampton), the changes to the Planning
System to speed up delivery and through working closely with other
Government Departments such as DfT, the Environment Agency, DoH
and DfES to secure supporting infrastructure for development.
Funding allocations for major services, such as health and education,
should respond quickly to rapid population growth.
The DoT carried out a multi-modal study of the
impact of development in the Thames Gateway on existing transport
infrastructure and an assessment of how various proposed transport
initiatives would meet the additional demand. This has fed into
Government's forward planning through the Spending Review.
Major new transport initiatives are underway
or planned from the A13 and A2 upgrades, DLR extension and high
speed CTRL, improvements to the West Coast Mainline, and M1 widening
between M25 and Milton Keynes are already underway. The recently
published Transport for London 5 Year Investment Programme also
includes a number of initiatives and future proposals relevant
to the Thames Gateway including improvements to DLR, the District
Line and East London Lines, new bus based transit schemes for
East London and Greenwich Waterfront and a new Thames Gateway
Bridge linking Beckton and Thamesmead.
Growth areas provide some great opportunities
for innovation in the provision of public services. Looking at
building on the work already under way on co-location to help
communities access a wide range of services under one roof.
On 15 March 2004, Lord Rooker made a Parliamentary
Statement detailing the Government's commitment to providing infrastructure
alongside houses in the four growth areas. It outlined new commitments
on health and education and confirmed previous commitments and
progress on transport infrastructure.
HEALTH
In March 2004, the DoH gave its backing to providing
additional health service infrastructure to support the development
of Sustainable Growth Areas. The DoH has agreed to provide:
— an extra £20 million of revenue
funding in 2004-05 and 2005-06 to be allocated to Primary Care
Trusts in the growth areas;
— £20 million of capital resources
in 2005-06 to be allocated to Strategic Health Authorities in
the growth areas;
— the DoH has also agreed to a "growth
area adjustment" for Growth Areas at the next allocations
round; and
— to give priority to Growth Areas
for future LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) schemes.
This extra funding is on top of record levels
of increase in NHS funding. Over the next two years, Primary Care
Trusts have been allocated an average increase of 9.55% in 2004-05
and 9.32% in 2005-06.
EDUCATION
DfES is working closely with Local Education
Authorities to ensure school needs are being met. This includes
reviewing the capital funding systems to ensure growth is catered
for eg, mechanism to allow LEAs to seek additional capital support
to meet exceptional circumstances. DfES will be discussing with
rapid growth authorities their plans and funding needs.
ODPM and DfES are working together to translate
growth forecasts into pupil numbers and ensuring LEAs take these
forecasts into account when planning school needs.
ENVIRONMENT
Growth areas must be equipped with the water
and sewerage services and infrastructure necessary to guarantee
the long-term health of these communities. Government will seek
to continue to involve the respective water undertakers and environmental
regulators at an early stage in the development of proposals.
ODPM has allocated £11.5 million to environmental
projects in Ashford, Milton Keynes-South Midlands and London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough
to kick-start the Government's long-term vision for green spaces.
£15 million has also been allocated to
early action environmental projects in the Thames Gateway. The
"Greening the Gateway" document, published in January
2004 outlines Government's vision for a network of publicly accessible
green spaces across the Thames Gateway growth area. It aims to
ensure heritage landscape is both protected and made available
to local people for their recreational use.
THAMES GATEWAY/MILTON
KEYNES & SOUTH
MIDLANDS SUB
REGIONAL STRATEGY
ALLOCATIONS
Over the last year, announcements were made
on allocations to Thames Gateway and outlined current support
for infrastructure within the Milton Keynes & South Midlands
(MKSM) growth area.
LONDON (TOTAL
AROUND £38 MILLION)
— Land and Property Acquisition
£14.08 million for acquisition of key sites
to support the facilitation of 73,000 sq ft of creative space,
37 units for small businesses, a Child and Family Healthcare Centre
and additional housing units.
— Workspace refurbishment
£7.35 million for workspace refurbishment for
over 23,000 sq ft of office space and creating in excess of 125
jobs.
ESSEX (TOTAL
AROUND £23.5 MILLION)
— Workspace refurbishment
£2.75 million to support the development of
industrial estates and a conference centre and 120-quality hotel
rooms.
KENT (TOTAL
AROUND £37.5 MILLION)
— Land and Property Acquisition
£12 million for land acquisition and remediation
for mixed used waterfront development at Northfleet embankment.
— Environmental Improvements
£1.15 million to fund conservation, ecology
and tourism at Elmley and Dartford marshes.
Infrastructure and amenities schemes already
supported by the ODPM in MKSM include:
— £10.6 million for the construction
of a new access road and bridge in Wellingborough;
— £17 million to secure the regeneration
of three brownfield sites in Northampton and £2.7 million
for brownfield regeneration in Towcester and Daventry;
— £5 million for a new roads at
Bedford;
— £2.8 million for schemes to
support job creation and improve the urban environment at Corby;
— £1.7 million to improve Aylesbury
town centre;
— £3 million to regenerate the
historic Bletchley Park complex at Milton Keynes; and
— £6.6 million on green spaces
projects such as the River Nene Regional Park, Dunstable Downs
and woodland areas in the Forest of Marston Vale.
FLOOD DEFENCE
A great deal of the growth areas lie in or near
flood plains. Policy Planning Guidance 25 (Development and Flood
Risk) advocates the precautionary sequential approach that seeks
to prevent inappropriate development in floodplains as well as
introducing flood risk assessment and recognises the potential
impact of climate change.
Government policy is to discourage inappropriate
development but recognises that other factors are involved and
some development in areas of flood risk is unavoidable. Many such
areas are already defended to a high standard—including
the Thames Gateway, which is protected against flood with an annual
probability of 0.1% ie a one in 1,000 chance of occurring in any
one year.
In the Ashford Growth Area, the Environment
Agency is undertaking a study on an Integrated Water Management
Strategy. This will produce a strategy, covering water supply,
treatment and flood prevention and alleviation, for the proposed
growth in the Ashford area.
As part of the consultation on a new Government-wide
strategy for flood risk management, "Making Space for Water",
DEFRA is working to identify possible new funding streams for
flood risk management that will secure a fair contribution from
direct beneficiaries including developers. This will complement
public funding in this area.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN
DRAINAGE (SUDS)
To ensure that additional building does not
contribute to flooding through poor drainage of run-off, ODPM
and Defra have been working with the Environment Agency, local
government and industry stakeholders to prepare an Interim code
of practice for sustainable drainage, which was published in July
2004. This aims to encourage the implementation of SUDS in both
new and existing developments through the provision of basic guidance
to make the adoption and allocation of SUDS more straightforward.
English Partnerships had its own best practice
guidance based on PPG25 and also is a keen proponent of sustainable
urban drainage systems (pioneered in Milton Keynes) which avoid
adding to flood risks by copying natural drainage processes (reed
beds, catchment ponds, etc) and had used/planned these on a number
of projects including Upton (Northampton), Lawley (Telford), Basildon
and Barking Riverside.
MAKING IT
HAPPEN: NORTHERN
WAY
Substantial resources were also allocated through
the Sustainable Communities Plan to the Midlands and North including
the £500 million fund for the nine Housing Market Renewal
(HMR) Pathfinders. This fund is aimed areas suffering severe problems
of abandonment and market failure and will support schemes for
clearance, refurbishment, new build and also improvements to local
services.
The Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs—currently
16 around England, many of them based in the north and midlands)
have a key role in regenerating areas and deliver major improvements
on the ground through the pooling of expertise and resources with
improvements to infrastructure forming an important part of their
plans from station improvements in Sheffield and Liverpool, to
road upgrades including the new Tees Bridge (projects which EP
are heavily involved with).
English Partnerships is a key partner in the
Pathfinder Partnerships and URCs.
ODPM has also identified £50 million, to
contribute to the Investment Fund for the RDA-led Northern Growth
Strategy Moving Forward: The Northern Way. Together with the RDA's
own £50 million contribution this has created a £100
million to develop the Strategy into practical action. This might
include funding specific projects that contribute to the Strategy's
objectives.
SPENDING REVIEW
04
The Spending Review outlined increases to health,
education and transport and provided a number of important measures
to support regions. One key announcement relating to the growth
areas was the creation of a Community Infrastructure Fund (as
recommended by Barker). This £200 million fund (£50
million in 2006-07 and £150 million in 2007-08) will support
transport infrastructure costs in the four growth areas.
SR 04 also provided £50 million (plus £50
million matched from RDAs) additional support for the northern
regions. The three Northern RDAs—Yorkshire Forward, ONE
North East and Northwest Development Agency—also worked
together to develop a Northern Way Growth Strategy, and produced
an interim report as a contribution to the 2004 Spending Review.
The Spending Review responds to this interim
report by:
— announcing that the Government will
consider favourably proposals for further integration of planning
and funding of adult skills and workforce development at the regional
level including, in those regions where the RDA and Learning and
Skills Council desire it, a "dual key" approach to the
management of adult skills budgets operated by the RDA Chief Executive
and the regional LSC Director;
— welcoming the plans for the three
northern RDAs to spend over £100 million by 2010 on strengthening
business-university collaboration and technology transfer across
the North;
— endorsing the proposal to develop
a pan-Northern cluster policy; and
— recognising that regional choices
on transport, housing, planning and economic development cannot
be taken in isolation, the Government is examining new ways to
integrate RDA strategies with regional transport and spatial development
strategies, within a framework of indicative long term funding
guidelines. The Government will consult on these proposals later
in the year and will publish indicative regional budgets alongside
the 2005 Budget.
— Regional Transport Boards are being
piloted in two areas.
— Accurate regional data will be available
to support the regional policy framework and delivery of the regional
economic performance target.
ENGLISH PARTNERSHIPS'
ROLE
With its national role and focus (the only agency
with a specific Thames Gateway regional command), EP is well placed
to assist with intra regional and strategic planning issues. The
provision of infrastructure is central to English Partnerships'
work. Our main function is to provide sites forward which are
ready for development, with the necessary infrastructure and in
support of local and regional objectives.
English Partnerships recognises the need for
infrastructure early on in the process and the early provision
of such infrastructure (transport, utilities, community, etc)
is one of the key elements of its work. For example:
— new road junctions at Omega in Warrington
and Basildon, road improvements at Middlehaven, Middlesbrough
and improved bus services in Upton, Basildon and Greenwich; and
— early delivery of community infrastructure
at the Local Health Centre and Primary School at Greenwich, Community
Centre at Allerton Bywater, and planned new primary school and
doctors surgery at Barking Riverside plus environmental improvements
in Barking, Basildon and Northampton through the provision of
an ecological centre, parks, green spaces and nature reserves.
In addition:
(a) EP believes that the best way to obtain
private sector investment is to secure early agreement or joint
venture structure. Our work in Milton Keynes on the land vehicle
and pre-agreement of tariffs and with Bellway Homes and the formation
of a new company—Barking Riverside, show the approach EP
is working.
(b) EP is also looking at ways in which the
uplift in land value can be captured, through prior agreement
with developers, to fund some of this infrastructure. We support
the idea of SLICS and are working with landowners and public agencies
in many places. For example, in West Bedford, EP acts as the "ring-master",
bringing land owners together, coordinating planning and enabling
construction of a by-pass development which will create a new
settlement of around 2,250 homes to help meet growth targets.
EP proposes to underpin the cash flow for the infrastructure phase
rather than give a grant or buy up all the land and do it.
(c) In 2002, English Partnerships commissioned
and published a study that highlighted the delays and increased
costs in site regeneration attributed to utility issues. This
report revealed inaccurate cost estimates, poor security of supply,
a lack of available primary infrastructure capacity and minimal
competition between utility companies were causing delays and
additional costs, hindering the progress of vital regeneration
projects and commercial developments. The study also found that
regeneration budgets are being used to fund the installation of
power utility infrastructure, as regulatory constraints provide
little incentive for regional electricity companies to become
project investment partners.
November 2004
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