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The Planning Skills INQUIRY (Communities and Local Government Committee) MEMORANDUM by Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited.
Background
Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited is the merger of five of the Northamptonshire's economic development and promotion organisations including the economic development function of Northamptonshire County Council into one single organisation resulting in more money spent on projects and less on bureaucracy. This model is already being recognised within the East Midlands as a model for other areas to implement.
NELs remit is to support the promotion, attraction and delivery of the economic development agenda within the county, the region, nationally and internationally. This includes providing the lead on Economic Development Strategy & Policy, supporting the Sustainable Communities Strategy and the Northamptonshire Economic Development components of the LAA. We also provide support and advice on European funding and partnerships and coordinate with partners the counties Statistical Information and Intelligence through the Observatory which provides valuable support to key partners within the county to make the case for investment.
We are also responsible for the promotion and delivery and marketing of Tourism in Northamptonshire and in championing the countywide Northamptonshire (Let Yourself Grow) brand.
NEL also seeks to attract new companies into the county and importantly we also provide support to new investors and existing businesses based here in Northamptonshire, helping many of those to stay within the county and by working with key partners we also assist in finding alternative employment opportunities when businesses leave or downsize.
NEL also programmes manages over £10m (2007) of investment grant into the county to support and develop projects which support the economic aspirations of Northamptonshire and the region, including devolved resources from the East Midlands Regional Development Agency, East Midlands Tourism and investing Growth Area Funding.
Committee's line of Enquiry
Northamptonshire is at the heart of the Milton Keynes South Midlands Growth agenda and lies at the southern part of the East Midlands region, although much of its focus and influences lies towards the south of the UK, being less than one hour by train from London. NEL welcomes the line of enquiry and its follow on from Sir John Egan's Review of Skills for Sustainable Communities.
As the economic development agency for the county are submission focuses upon this particular area.
The impact of planning framework and the attainment and retention of transferable, relevant skills within the planning environment is a key issue in tackling the overall strategic direction of an area.
It is our view that the range and detail knowledge required by planning authorities and their staff has incrementally yet substantially moved over recent years and in particular we believe that within both a local and globally competitive marketplace for businesses and distinct pressure on reducing overall commuter patterns coupled with ever increasing demands for environmental carbon footprint reductions places the skills levels required for planning professionals is at an all time high, however attracting and retaining creative and dynamic professionals outside of major urban areas still presents difficulties and reduces the opportunities for longer term consistency and buy in to wider strategic objective. That said in Northamptonshire there is a growing and positive recognition of the interdependency between housing, transport and employment and community cohesion and a sense of place within the planning framework.
We consider that greater emphasis needs to be given to moulding development at an early stage into the economic objectives of the area, so that for example advance infrastructure needs such as fibre optic cabling, impact of wider skills availability and closer liaison with travel plans need to be embedded much more into the development of planning professionals ongoing skills and demonstrated much more effectively within CPD and ideally form the basis for any development agreement at an early stage within an agreed set of development principles. There is a need for early consultation on development plans and major planning applications and plan development with local economic development bodies. This is a resource efficient means of delivering the economic development elements of sustainable development and would be an effect means of delivering the requirements for local economic evidence bases and knowledge as laid out in draft Planning Policy Statement Four. There are already examples within Northamptonshire of such working, with Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited supporting the development of core spatial strategies in the county and developing the economic policies with planning colleagues in these.
We consider that continued development of master planning skills would help many partners including the private sector to engage more effectively with planning organisations and in our view would provide a degree of vision and certainty for what the area requires across a broad spectrum of disciplines which perhaps a and as a consequence would be less likely to result in prolonged and often expensive appeals.
Further guidance on the ability of the planning system to bring about wider community benefits would be supported. For example the Northamptonshire construction futures project, which seeks to use Section 106 agreements to secure funding for a use of training, places in construction by developers. Example such as this and linking to the wider procurement system could have significant economic development impacts- creating a more sustainable community
There are specific needs for planners and ED officers to work together on the development of employment land reviews, as laid out in ODPM best practice guidance. This again links to the need for a robust local evidence base that is used by both planners (offices and councillors) and ED practitioners.
Guidance is needed on developing a 21st century ICT network, and the role of the planning system in this. Work such as the ICT toolkit is a useful means of supporting the planning system in delivering the required infrastructure for modern businesses.
Further guidance would be beneficial in delivering increased flexibility in building design, again meeting modern working practices including networking space and green technologies within buildings. A useful example of these (developed between planners and ED practitioners) is the WorkstyleTrends Report available at www.northamptonshireobservatory.org.uk
Given the role of emerging role RDA's as regional planning body, there is a need for greater understanding of local economic conditions and development plans and need to engage the local democratic process. This could be provided by using a single economic assessment (as highlighted in draft pps4) which should be provided in partnership by local economic development and planning bodies.
ED issues and local data could be provided to local democratically elected representatives. This would provide improved understanding of the role of economic development in delivering sustainable communities
The need to understand infrastructure requirements (non highway) is critical. Improvements could be made around engagement with utility companies (non EA) to ensure that upfront provision of necessary infrastructure is available.
Finally we also consider that better use of the of the academy for sustainable communities http://www.ascskills.org.uk and local best practice organisations (such as Regeneration East Midlands) could be made, particularly for seminars and CPD with respect to delivering sustainable communities
David Wright Chief Executive Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited |