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Memorandum for the
Planning Skills Inquiry submitted by Merseytravel
We welcome the Committee's
Inquiry into Planning Skills. This
comes at an important time in the development of planning policy and as the
contribution that planning makes to economic, social and environmental
improvements is being more widely recognised.
With proposals being progressed for the introduction of the Community
Infrastructure Levy (CIL), it is essential that the skills issue at all levels
is addressed if we are able to make the most of the opportunities that are
being developed.
Summary
Merseytravel believes that the
existing skills base in Passenger Transport Authorities should be fully
utilised as the range of demands made on local authorities, such as the
introduction of a CIL, increases. It is
also necessary that a consistency of approach is adopted so that in the case of
Merseytravel's five constituent authorities there is agreement over
infrastructure priorities and no unnecessary, and possible costly, duplication
of skills.
1. Merseytravel
1.1 Merseytravel is the operating name of the Merseyside Passenger
Transport Authority (PTA) and the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive
(PTE). As a Passenger Transport
Authority, Merseytravel is subject to the Government's Best Value regime and,
as such, represents itself as a 'best value authority' alongside police, fire
and national park authorities, amongst others.
Cont/.....
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1.2 In planning and
procuring major elements of the public transport system, Merseytravel prepares
and implements the Local Transport Plan for Merseyside with our district
council partners, Merseytravel funds socially necessary bus services, oversees
local rail and bus services, owns and operates the Mersey Ferries and the
Mersey Tunnels, provides a range of prepaid and concessionary tickets, produces
and distributes timetables.
1.3 We have a record of
delivery across all aspects of the transport system in Merseyside and have been
recognised for our high level of customer care, professionalism and innovation. Our
£32 million state-of-the-art interchange at Liverpool South Parkway has won
numerous awards, and we have also won awards for skills development and for
environmental achievements.
2 Comments
2.1 It is increasingly clear that we are seeing the convergence
of a number of agencies - planning, housing, delivery of infrastructure as well
as climate change. 'Planning'
increasingly has a role to play in delivery of wide range of policy objectives. It is obvious that the skill set available
to planning departments has to expand.
There will be an increased level of expectation for departments to
fulfil obligations around economic, social and environmental considerations.
2.2 Whilst increasing the
skills of individual planners would, of course, be useful, we do not believe
that one group of individuals should be expected to be expert in so many
different fields. Instead, partnership
working has to be the way forward with planning departments being open to take
expertise and advice from across their own local authorities but also others in
the public sector and those in the private sector, possibly through statutory
consultation or the development of an agreement list of key bodies.
2.3 Concentrating on the
delivery of transport infrastructure projects provides a case in point. Only by working in partnership can modern
infrastructure developments delivered successfully, no one body or organisation
can deliver alone. The challenge of
skills is thrown into stark relief with a piece of major upcoming policy change
- the CIL. We feel that CIL, in
particular, provides a useful illustration with regard to planning skills and
we work through this in detail below.
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3. Community Infrastructure Levy and skills base
3.1 We welcome the Government's plans for a CIL. A lack of
infrastructure or problems with the existing infrastructure in an area,
including transport, is holding back development. The recent Centre for
Cities/PricewaterhouseCoopers report, 'Financial Devolution for Local Growth',
found that 98% of the local leaders surveyed said that infrastructure issues
are preventing their area from achieving its full potential.
3.2 Many issues remain to be
addressed in the development of the CIL such as the areas to be covered by the
scheme, who can act as a charging authority, whether these will be the same
bodies as the collection authority etc.
3.3 Of more direct relevance
to this inquiry is the process by which the CIL will be calculated, how the
infrastructure will be delivered and what happens over time. These issues are directly relevant to the
level and layers of skills that will be required.
3.4 In a highly simplified
version, the CIL would operate as follows:
(a) Identify the infrastructure to be
provided - which would also mean looking at who the delivery agent will be and
when it should be provided. In the case
of public transport, those areas with a PTA will already have been through this
process during the development of the Local Transport Plan - the plans apply to
the whole of the area and also to projects in the individual Districts. Obviously County Councils will have been
through a similar process but their funding and relationships with the
Districts are different to our own.
PTAs will also have considered other delivery agents who may need to be
involved and considered issues around, for instance, the environmental impact
of what is being proposed.
(b) Estimate the total cost of the
infrastructure - this should be done only in conjunction with all interested
parties and, again in the case of PTAs, will already have been undertaken. Estimating the cost of a project is far from
straightforward, dealing, as it does, not just with cost but also risk. For those not expert in the field,
attempting to make such calculations will inevitably lead to inaccuracies which
will undermine the delivery of the project.
Cont/.....
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(c) Determine the level of funding available
from existing sources - again, expertise will already exist from bodies such as
PTAs and we know not only where sources of finance are available but also how
to apply for them (in itself often a long and tortuous process). This can involve finance not just available
locally, regionally or nationally but also from the European Union.
(d) Calculate the shortfall - without
reference to the various streams of funding, as described above, the shortfall
calculation will be inaccurate.
(e) Determining the level of the CIL - the
level could well be set at an uneconomic rate, making development unattractive,
if the earlier parts of the sum are not properly calculated.
3.5 What the above
illustrates, in a simplistic way, is that expertise already exists, which will
be key for the delivery of the CIL, as an example. Obviously, in some cases authorities already collect
contributions via section 106 agreements, index link them,
track them over time etc. Under the
CIL, it also expected that the charging (or collection) authority
will track the infrastructure projects over time and deal with the
financial elements. We do not think that it will be feasible for one
set of officers to do this across a range of specialist
infrastructure projects and would therefore contend that the existing
expertise of PTAs and other authorities should be utilised.
3.6 We are also concerned
that when it comes to infrastructure projects that cross boundaries, there may
be some confusion about how they should be dealt with. It may be easier and less time consuming to
see infrastructure as distinct elements rather than fitting into one overall
scheme. Whilst the infrastructure
necessary for development should be identified with reference to various
development plans (Regional Economic Strategies, Development Frameworks etc) if
the right organisations have not been sufficiently involved in their
development then the decisions over infrastructure may be flawed. This, in turn, would mean that the CIL would
be open to legal challenge.
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3.7 As it currently looks
unlikely that there will be a regional body that can act as a charging
authority, this will mean that an area's appropriate Districts will need to
work together in delivering projects.
It has been suggested that the Secretary of State may take on the mantle
of the regional charging body but this would return powers to central
government that are currently being devolved.
Another appropriate forum may be through a Multi Area Agreement (MAA)
but the financial implications of their use together with the CIL would need to
be considered in more detail.
3.8 Merseytravel already
brings together five Districts on Merseyside (Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton,
Knowsley and the Wirral) and works closely with a sixth, Halton, when
necessary. We represent the interests
of the five, securing agreement on a range of project and issues through the
use of committees, membership of which is based on the relative population of
each District.
3.9 Whichever method of
deciding infrastructure projects is selected, those in the charging authority
will also need to be able to manage them over time. For instance, what happens to projects due to be delivered at the
end of the period of the CIL if the early projects have overrun in terms of
cost?
3.10 There is also an issue of
being able to deal with expectations - of local communities and their elected
representatives, developers, and infrastructure providers. A certain amount of front loading of
infrastructure provision may be required for development schemes to progress
but may not be possible in pure delivery terms. Who acts as an arbiter in such cases, or whether they have the
necessary skills to execute this role is unclear.
3.11 Our experience to date of
negotiations around Section 106 Agreements is variable. Some Districts engage with us on a regular
basis but others barely consider public transport, or transport more generally,
in their developments. So part of the
discussions around skills has to change the mind set of planners (as well as
developers on many occasions) so that transport, and particularly public
transport, is a fundamental part of the development and integrated as part of
projects. This is far from the case at
the moment. The move towards a CIL may
assist in this but it may only apply to small sections of an area (such as is
currently the case in Milton Keynes) and may not be implemented at all in some
local planning authorities. We should
not, therefore, forget about Section 106 arrangements and how they operate.
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3.12 It would appear to be
useful that the backgrounds from which those in planning departments are drawn
continues to expand. If CIL funds are
to be spent on a whole range of infrastructure projects then it would be useful
if planners were able to draw on direct experience or, if not, then a
comprehensive list of stakeholders and consultees is made available to
them. If transport is to be the largest
recipient of a CIL, as it is in the similar system run in Milton Keynes, then
experience of transport would seem to be essential. We at Merseytravel would be
happy to offer placements/secondments to those from our District planning
departments if it is felt that this would prove useful and provide some of the
experience required.
4. Overall
4.1 Much of the debate should not be centred on skills per se but
the utilisation of existing skills from elsewhere in an Authority and among
partner organisations. That is not to
say that skills should not be enhanced but that hugely onerous tasks should not
be placed on one set of individuals, for instance planning departments.
4.2 Partnership has to be
the way forward rather than a drive to re-skill existing Officers. Where it comes to those training to be
planners, then infrastructure development, particularly transport matters
should increasingly be built into courses.
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) who accredit degree courses
attended by those who wish to gain chartered status should consider altering
their requirements accordingly. Whilst
other institutions who offer non-RTPI accredited planning they should too alter
their courses. This should help to
build capacity in the future.
Neil Scales
Chief Executive and Director
General
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