Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies: a planning vacuum? - Communities and Local Government Committee Contents


Written evidence from Cumbria County Council (ARSS 106)

1.0  SUMMARY

1.1  This paper has been prepared by Cumbria County Council and includes views expressed by the Cumbria Planning Group.

1.2  The opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry into the revocation and abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies and the opportunity to inform the Government's thinking on the emerging arrangements for spatial planning is welcomed.

1.3  In summary the main points raised are as follows:

The opportunity for planning authorities to set housing targets within the county is welcomed. There is an acknowledgment in the county of the need to deliver more affordable housing to meet local needs and provide balanced housing markets.

The nature of any incentives to encourage communities to accept new housing development should recognise the housing needs of the area and support its economic development. All new development should satisfy established sustainable development principles.

The merits of a planning system with a strong community input is recognised. Any new arrangements should seek to utilise existing strategies and partnership models wherever possible and avoid duplicating existing strategies and processes. The existing Cumbria Community Strategy contains the Cumbria Sub Regional Spatial Strategy which sets out the broad spatial planning framework for the county and provides a strategic framework for Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) in Cumbria.

Future Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) should provide a "challenging role" to the statutory planning process but should not seek to replace it.

There are strategic challenges in Cumbria which require a co-ordinated approach. There exists within Cumbria established joint elected member and officer groups that cater for planning and housing matters. These provide the basis for continued collaborative working arrangements.

It is important that the collection and monitoring of data and evidence is continued at a strategic and local level. Cumbria County Council has the potential to hold data and research information for use at a Cumbria strategic level and to ensure that it is made available in an accurate and consistent format.

2.0  CONTEXT

2.1  Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. Whilst Cumbria consists of one upper tier authority, it comprises six districts, the Lake District National Park and part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

2.2  By area, Cumbria is the second largest county in England but less than 500,000 people live there (496,600, Mid-Year Population Estimates, 2008, ONS) and over 50% of these people live in rural communities.

2.3  Cumbria connects the North West of England with the North East and Scotland, with road and rail networks north, south and east. Cumbria enjoys a world class environment and landscape, presenting unrivalled opportunities for tourism, a highly motivated workforce, unique skills in nuclear technologies, and a good quality of life (Cumbria Intelligence Observatory).

2.4  The challenge for Cumbria is to secure a sustainable level and pattern of development that creates balanced communities and meets needs including that of new jobs across the county.

2.5  In Cumbria the planning and housing authorities have a longstanding history of joint working demonstrated through the creation of the Cumbria Planning Group and the Cumbria Housing Group.

2.6  The Cumbria Planning Group is made up of one Councillor from each of the six Districts, one from the County Council and one Member of the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA). Each elected member is supported by one officer. It seeks to coordinate planning activities in Cumbria, including joint initiatives and lobbying activities.

2.7  The Cumbria Housing Group is a forum to discuss and coordinate housing activities in Cumbria on behalf of the six Districts, the LDNPA and Cumbria County Council, plus representatives of Registered Social Landlords and the housing development industry. The Executive of the Cumbria Housing Group includes Local Authority Member representation, which establishes the policy of the Group. The Cumbria Housing Group prepared the Cumbria Housing Strategy which is an overarching strategic document that provides a framework for consistent policies and practices across the county. It has identified 20 Housing Market Areas across Cumbria. The CHG (through the Research and Information sub group) has published countywide Strategic Housing Market Area Assessments (SHMAAs) for each local authority in Cumbria, except Barrow in Furness whose SHMAA is still under preparation.

2.8  The Cumbria Strategic Partnership (CSP) is the countywide partnership in Cumbria which brings together partners representing the public, private and third sector organisations in Cumbria. It has a membership of over 50 orgainsations and is responsible, on behalf of the County Council, for developing a Sustainable Community Strategy and for developing and implementing the Local Area Agreement. The existing Cumbria Community Strategy contains the Cumbria Sub Regional Spatial Strategy which sets out the broad spatial planning framework for the county.

2.9  The Cumbria Leaders' Board has recently been formed to provide a strong coherent voice along with the leadership and direction required to attract investment and enterprise in Cumbria. This includes representation from the County Council and six District Councils, Cumbria Association of Local Councils and other major public bodies such as the Police, Health and LDNPA. The Cumbria Leaders' Board has recently signed off and submitted a bid for a Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership.

2.10   Another example of partnership working within the county is the Lake District National Park Partnership which is made up of representatives from the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. The Partnership works together to resolve potential areas of conflict and find solutions to further the vision of the National Park.

3.0  SUBMISSION STATEMENT

3.1  The submission to the Inquiry sets out a response on the basis of the terms of reference.

TOR 1: The implications of the abolition of regional house building targets for levels of housing development

3.2  Without clearly defined targets there is a danger that the necessary levels of housing development required will not be achieved to meet identified housing needs. Hence the ability to set housing targets within the county is essential. There is already an established Cumbria Housing Group which has led the production of SHMAAs. This was undertaken collaboratively with the planning and housing authorities within the county and allowed needs to be identified within Housing Market Areas (HMAs). We see the co-operative approach to evidence preparation having value in any future planning process, as it allows strategic themes to emerge and cross border issues to be resolved.

3.3  To deliver the significant levels of housing development required there is a need to resolve conflicts within individual settlements and communities. If there is no strategic target the time taken to resolve these differences as well as those of specialist interests could be significant and may well delay the construction of the units needed to meet established housing requirements including affordable and extra care housing. In some cases this could have an adverse socio-economic affect on the area as a whole. It is recognised that the likelihood of this occurring in the county maybe limited at present, as the Cumbrian planning authorities were generally supportive of the housing targets set within the revoked North West RSS, although these figures remain to be incorporated in around half of the Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) in the county.

3.4  The merits of a planning system with a strong community input is recognised and indeed there is an acknowledgment already in the county of the need to deliver more affordable housing to meet local needs.

TOR2: The likely effectiveness of the Government's plan to incentivise local communities to accept new housing development and the nature and level of the incentives which will need to be put in place to ensure an adequate long term supply of housing

3.5  We refer to the response above. In order to encourage communities to accept the provision of new housing development a number of aspects need to be clearly put in place:

A needs assessment to establish the levels of housing development required at a strategic and local level;

Housing requirement targets set by the planning authority area which have been derived from the needs assessment and endorsed by the responsible local authorities;

Clear incentives to the housing market and RSLs to provide that housing requirement; and

Community empowerment to bring forward land for development.

3.6  The nature of these incentives should target the housing needs of the area and support its future economic development. We would support the approach taken in PPS 3 which allows for needs to be met where there is not a five year supply but seeks to ensure that all housing developments satisfy sustainable development principles.

3.7  As no clear fiscal mechanisms to incentivise local communities to accept new housing development have been set it is difficult to comment at this stage. However, it is suggested that there is a significant challenge to address the potential differing views of communities, in terms of agreeing the location and scale of housing development. It is important to note that Cumbria contains a wealth of protected landscapes and areas designated for their importance in terms of biodiversity and historic significance which adds further to the consideration of the appropriate scale of development.

3.8  The incentives should also deal with enabling infrastructure for housing development which relates to whole settlements as well as to individual developments. In particular there are issues which relate to highway and transport and utility infrastructure in some of Cumbria's main settlements which could potentially limited levels of housing development and economic growth. There needs to be a clear co-ordination of infrastructure requirements and an appreciation that there needs to be a shared contribution from developers and/or investment from public bodies responsible for that community infrastructure. There is currently a significant reliance on gap funding in the county.

TOR 3: What arrangements should be put in place to ensure appropriate cooperation between local planning authorities on matters formally covered by Regional Spatial Strategies?

3.9  The Cumbria authorities (including Cumbria County Council, the LDNPA and the District Councils) have been active in the regional planning process. The provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and PPS 11 provide advice with regard to the preparation, review and monitoring of the NW RSS. The County Council as a Section 4(4) authority has specific responsibility to engage in that strategic planning process. In reality this input was usually undertaken on a collaborative basis.

3.10  There is potential for the Cumbria authorities to continue to work collaboratively in the new arrangements. As explained above there are established joint elected member and officer groups that cater for planning and housing matters ie the Cumbria Planning Group and the Cumbria Housing Group.

3.11  The Cumbria Leaders Board has recently signed off and submitted a bid for a Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership. It is also the intention of the Cumbria Strategic Partnership to produce a single countywide community strategy.

3.12  The existing Cumbria Community Strategy contains the Cumbria's Sub Regional Spatial Strategy which sets out the broad spatial planning framework for the county. This enables actions that affect specific areas and locations to achieve the delivery of the Community Strategy and provides a strategic framework for Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) in Cumbria. It is of note that of the eight core strategies to be produced within the county, four have been found sound and there is considerable process being made with a number of other development plan documents.

3.13  It is the view of Cumbria Planning Group that any new arrangements should seek to utilise existing strategies and partnership models wherever possible and avoid increasing and duplicating strategies and process. The Cumbria Planning Group appreciates the value of joint working and cooperation in responding to strategic planning matters. It sees continued opportunities for shared working on spatial planning matters. Such models for partnership can greatly assist the "Localism" agenda and provide efficiency savings for public sector budgets.

3.14  The County Council is seen as playing an important role in the co-ordination of strategic planning matters including infrastructure provision and specialist advice in respect of landscape, heritage and biodiversity matters; renewable and low carbon energy, minerals and waste management.

TOR 4: The adequacy of proposals already put forward by the Government, including a proposed duty to co-operate and the suggestion that Local Enterprise Partnerships may fulfil a planning function

3.15  The proposal to place a duty to co-operate upon local authorities is welcomed. As explained previously the Cumbrian planning and housing authorities have a longstanding history of joint working demonstrated through the creation of the Cumbria Planning Group and the Cumbria Housing Group.

3.16  The Cumbria partners have also submitted a proposal for a Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership. The proposal advocates that the planning process should enable business and communities to address their needs and meet Cumbria's enterprise aspirations. Fundamental to this is encouraging sustainable economic growth whilst protecting the county's valuable landscape and ecological and heritage features. This includes both the creation of vibrant settlements, business premises, effective infrastructure and housing.

3.17  It is considered that delivering sufficient housing of the right type in the right location to meet current and future needs of the community is essential for our economic competitiveness and aspiration, as is the creation of mixed and sustainable communities. Crucially, this includes tackling the significant issues of affordable housing and areas of housing market renewal. Identifying opportunities for regeneration and enhancement of the physical environment will be key.

3.18  The priorities of the Cumbria LEP will be to:

Provide evidence for and champion the economy's current and future needs to be delivered through the planning process, in terms of housing, business and community infrastructure;

Promote coordination of the work of the Local Planning Authorities in delivering a coherent, focussed and enabling environment for business;

Support action to address the issue of affordable housing for local people and key workers;

Use its network of influence to facilitate constructive and positive relationships between Local Planning Authorities and potential developers/business, enabling appropriate developments which are in line with our agreed priorities;

Identify within our prospectus coordinated development opportunities around housing, industrial and commercial sites, retail, cultural industry and the low carbon economy;

Seek improvement to the county's supporting infrastructure for sustainable economic growth and community wellbeing;

Promote and facilitate the opportunities around public/private partnerships as a delivery mechanism for key development projects; and

Advocate the benefits of low carbon technologies and high quality design solution in championing of new investment strategies and development schemes.

3.19  The Cumbria Planning Group endorses the Cumbria LEP proposal. The Cumbria Planning Group expresses the view that LEPs should not be seeking to set up a new governance structure to become an alternative planning body but that the LEP should "challenge" the statutory planning process to assist delivery.

3.20  It is noted that the North West Leaders Board has established a new Transition Planning Board to look at the role of planning in the context of post regional arrangements, including LEPs.

TOR 5: How should data and research collected by the now abolished Regional Local Authority Leaders' Board be made available to local authorities, and what arrangements be put in place to ensure effective updating of that research and collection of further research on matters crossing local authority boundaries?

3.21  The collection and monitoring of data and evidence is invaluable to policy making and managing projects at a strategic and local level. There is value in retaining the data and evidence collected for the preparation of the North West region's Regional Strategy and the Regional Spatial Strategy as well as the information collected in relation to monitoring the performance of the strategies and policies of these documents. As much of the data is available on the Regional Planning Board, (4NW's) website it is important that this website is maintained and publicly available.

3.22  In recognition of the above, Cumbria County Council has the potential to hold data and research information for use at a Cumbria strategic level and to ensure that it is made available in an accurate and consistent format. However the maintenance and updating of that data and research information would have resource implication for the County Council.

3.23  It is recognised that the collection of data and evidence relating to cross-boundary issues is invaluable and would greatly assist all Cumbrian partners. There are partnership models already in place to facilitate the pursuance of agreed objectives. For example the Cumbria Intelligence Observatory is already established and has built upon invaluable Cumbria time series data gathered over many years. A Cumbria-wide Local Economic Assessment is currently being prepared, drawing on these data sources. There is scope to widen its remit to incorporate spatial planning data and evidence. This would be an invaluable tool to support regeneration and development activity in Cumbria and to provide evidence to prioritise the key interventions necessary.

N.B. Documents are attached with this submission for consideration by the Inquiry. These are referred to in the submission statement as examples of good practice. They include:

CSP's Cumbria Community Strategy:
www.cumbriastrategicpartnership.org.uk
The page provides a link to the Cumbria Sub Regional Spatial Strategy:
www.cumbriastrategicpartnership.org.uk/eLibrary/Content/Internet/536/39639141345.pdf

Cumbria Housing Strategy:
www.impacthousing.org.uk/Adobe%20docs/CSRHG%20Strategy/Housing%20Market%20Main%20FINAL.pdf

Strategic Housing Market Area Assessments:
www.cumbria.gov.uk/planning-environment/spatialplanning/housingmarket/housingmarket.asp

September 2010



 
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Prepared 31 March 2011