Strategic Planning in the New Era: Local Growth & Economic Leadership

1. Strategic Planning & the bigger picture Mide Beaumont & Johanna Howarth

2. The “new” world of strategic planning • Duty to Cooperate – strategic planning through local plans • But also important: • Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) • Strategic Economic Plans & Local Growth Deals • Enterprise Zones and European funding • City Deals

3. Our vision for local growth • Unleashing the ambition and creativity of local leaders • Devolving resource and responsibility to places with credible and compelling economic leadership • Local Enterprise Partnerships at the heart of our vision • Building on - local retention of business rates, establishing Enterprise Zones, Regional Growth Fund, Growing Places Fund and from 2015 Local Growth Fund

4. Building on LEP record in delivery – Enterprise Zones • Enterprise Zones use incentives to attract and grow local and international businesses • Help Local Enterprise Partnerships transform areas • 25 year programme – already delivering £450+ million private investment in first 18 months and 4,000 jobs

5. Building on LEP record in delivery - Growing Places Fund • 159 projects (52% of all projects) worth an estimated £1.5bn, are already underway • LEPs report expected 77,000 housing units, 5.3m sqm commercial floorspace, 217,000 jobs and 5,300 businesses supported

6. New challenges - the resources to deliver • Minimum of £2 billion a year through Local Growth Fund • Bringing together funding from transport, skills, housing • LEPs given responsibility for £5 billion EU Structural and Investment Funds for 2014-2020 • Resources under strategic direction of local areas total £20 billion up to and including 2020-21

7. New challenges – wider responsibilities • Multi-year Strategic Economic Plan - for whole LEP area • Using all resources and levers – local spending and assets, local decision-making, public and private investment, not just Local Growth Fund and EU funding • A common growth agenda for business, local government, universities • Devolving transport – putting it at the heart of the local growth story • Meeting local skills priorities - devolving £330 million of Further Education capital funding 2015-16 • Local partnerships – need to be able to deliver against wider agenda

8. Bringing it all together European Structural and Investment Funds GROWTH Skills Local Plans and planning decisions Enterprise Housing EZ funding Regeneration LEPs Strategic Economic Plan Growth Deal Growing Places Fund Infrastructure Regional Growth Fund programmes Local Growth Fund Transport links Further Education College Investment Public private partnerships Jobs Local authority assets and spending Private Sector Investment?

9. Importance of the Strategic Economic Plan The Strategic Economic Plan will be used to guide Government decisions on: • allocations from Local Growth Fund • local flexibility and accountability • wider local responsibilities and flexibilities But more importantly • Drive forward a common growth agenda locally

10. New challenges – going beyond City Deals • Our commitment - to negotiate a Growth Deal with every Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) • LEPs can seek freedoms, flexibilities and influence over resources from government, as well as a share of the Local Growth Fund • In return for local commitment and collaboration • LEPs need to make the case that localisation will offer better outcomes and value for money than continuing national delivery

11. The importance of deeper local partnerships for growth • Robust and deliverable over a long period • Effective collaboration on economic development activities • Maximising the synergies with wider local growth programmes • Putting in place the infrastructure and housing that supports growth • Opening up opportunities for business to invest

12. Duty to Cooperate • Two Years on from the Localism Act (November 2011) • Examinations now starting to show how PINS are approaching the Duty • National Planning Guidance – clarification about what is expected under the Duty • DCLG support for authorities • Key ministerial messages

13. National Planning Practice Guidance - Background • Review of Planning Practice Guidance began in October 2012 • Recommended that Guidance is: • up-to-date, coherent and easily accessible, provide essential information and exclude best-practice/case study material • provided through a web-based, live resource, hosted on a single site as a coherent up-to-date guidance suite • actively managed by DCLG to keep it current - and reviewed annually • readily printable and date stamped • freely available but with bulletins of changes

14. From five times longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace to something that fits in your pocket… *actual planning guidance

15. Finalising the Guidance • Web-based resource launched in August for testing and comment • Finalised guidance to ‘go live’ shortly following consideration of feedback Longer term: • Annual reviews of content to ensure it remains current and relevant – this does not mean that all content will change every year • Capacity for continuous feedback from users • Visit the site here: http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk

16. Guidance on the Duty to Cooperate • New Guidance - Duty to Cooperate is about a change in the culture of working • So Guidance is quite different to many of the other topic areas where issues are more black and white • Focus of Guidance is to ensure that there is as much clarity as possible about what is expected from those working together under the Duty, and how Inspectors will approach examinations • Should be read in conjunction with other Guidance, such as in particular assessing housing and economic development needs

17. Guidance on the Duty to Cooperate • Guidance covers 22 questions, vast majority deal with: • What – is the Duty; actions required; outcomes expected; should councils do if others won’t cooperate/partners are at a different stage in the process … • Who – is subject to the Duty • When – should cooperation take place; is an issue a strategic matter • Why – do people have to work with others • How - to decide who to cooperate with; can councils work together; will be Duty be considered at the examination; does the Duty relate to the policy test of soundness

18. Key messages:what, when and who • The duty goes beyond a requirement to consult. Cooperation…should produce effective policies on strategic cross boundary matters • Inspectors testing compliance [with the duty at examination] will assess the outcomes of cooperation and not just whether local planning authorities have approached others • Cooperation should take place throughout Local Plan preparation …it should continue until plans are submitted for examination and beyond into delivery and review • Authorities may well work in different groupings for different strategic matters. The strategic matters being planned for and the most appropriate geography to gather evidence and develop planning policies will help decide who to cooperate with

19. Key messages:scope and evidence • The Duty is not a duty to agree. But it is a demanding requirement. Detailed evidence will be needed to show how authorities have cooperated/the efforts made to seek cooperation • Cooperation with key delivery partners is central to the policy test of soundness… Authorities need to ensure that their Local Plan is effective before submitting it for examination... • There is no one way to demonstrate cooperation – what is important it that it produces effective policies on strategic matters • Agreements between authorities, signed by elected members, will be important to demonstrate commitment between authorities to produce effective strategic planning policies where plans are on different timescales • A failure to demonstrate compliance with the duty at the Local Plan examination cannot be corrected retrospectively

20. Key messages:lack of cooperation from others • Authorities must do all they can to secure, and evidence, cooperation on strategic matters • But if the Plan falls short because of a lack of cooperation, they should submit it for examination together with a detailed statement and evidence of the actions they have taken to engage cooperatively • Authorities will also need to submit undertakings in writing about the actions that they will take to seek to secure an effective planning strategy in the future • In these circumstances Inspectors will consider the implications for the planning strategy, for example implications of unmet housing need. They will also consider the willingness of the authority being examined and other key partners to commit, through written agreements, to work together to achieve effective solutions

21. Key messages:adopted local plans & monitoring • Having an adopted Local Plan does not justify a lack of cooperation with authorities bringing forward a Plan • If an authority preparing a Local Plan provides robust evidence of unmet housing need, other authorities in the housing market area will be required to consider the implications, including the need to review their housing policies • Authorities unwilling to cooperate with others will eventually have to bring forward their own Local Plan for examination. If they are unable to justify, with robust evidence, why the Plan does not help to meet the unmet requirements of another authority they may fail the test of compliance with the Duty and the Plan may be found unsound • Authorities must give details of what action they have taken to comply with the Duty in their Monitoring Reports at least once a year. This should include details of the actions they have taken to respond constructively to requests for cooperation

22. Comments on the Guidance • Suggestions for further work include: • Say more about the role of agreements between authorities • Say more about the evidence submitted to examinations on cooperation • More clarification on where needs cannot be met, including treatment at examination • More detail about what effective cooperation means • Say more about the role and responsibilities of other bodies • Say more on the implications for authorities with adopted plans • Emphasise the role of councillors in leading discussions and negotiation.

23. Strategic Planning & the bigger picture Johanna.howarth@communities.gsi.gov.uk mide.beaumont@communities.gsi.gov.uk