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Strategic Planning in England <ul><li>Some Reflections from my Experience </li></ul><ul><li>Will Fieldhouse </li></ul><ul><li>January 2011 </li></ul>

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What’s This About? <ul><li>Lessons from my work on Regional Planning and Regional Strategies over last ten years </li></ul><ul><li>About process, ways of working, and “strategic issues” </li></ul><ul><li>May be relevant to whatever planning system we may have in the future? </li></ul>

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What This is Not About <ul><li>Eric Pickles </li></ul><ul><li>CALA Homes </li></ul><ul><li>“ Local Growth” White Paper </li></ul><ul><li>Localism Bill </li></ul><ul><li>Government Offices </li></ul><ul><li>This is a personal view, not a Government view </li></ul>

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What I mean by ….. <ul><li>“ Strategic ” = wider area than local authority </li></ul><ul><li>“ Spatial ” = about places, but not just “development and use of land” </li></ul><ul><li>“ Plan ” = document setting out desired outcomes and means of achieving them </li></ul>

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Strategic Spatial Planning - History <ul><li>Structure Plans 1970s </li></ul><ul><li>Strategic Guidance 1980s </li></ul><ul><li>Regional Planning 1990s </li></ul><ul><li>Regional Spatial Strategies (and RES, RHS, RTS) 2000s </li></ul><ul><li>Regional Strategy 2009 </li></ul><ul><li>?????? 2010+ </li></ul>

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Lessons learned <ul><li>What I’ve learned from regional strategy work about </li></ul><ul><li>Process / procedures </li></ul><ul><li>Ways of working </li></ul><ul><li>Strategic issues (housing, economy, infrastructure, etc) </li></ul><ul><li>But first ……… </li></ul>

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Some General Stuff <ul><li>Sustainable development </li></ul><ul><li>Joining things up (“integration”) </li></ul><ul><li>Outcomes </li></ul><ul><li>Delivery </li></ul>

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Sustainable Development <ul><li>What makes Development “Sustainable”? </li></ul><ul><li>The Lorax may ask </li></ul><ul><li>How many Thneeds do we really all need? </li></ul><ul><li>What about the Truffalo Trees and Bar-ba-Loots? </li></ul><ul><li>So a strategic planner should consider </li></ul><ul><li>Long term, strategic view </li></ul><ul><li>Environmental, social and economic evidence and impacts / outcomes </li></ul>

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Joining Things Up <ul><li>Strategic planning is about ensuring different decisions and actions reinforce each other </li></ul><ul><li>In terms of impacts of different types of activity (economic, housing, infrastructure, investment, land use) </li></ul><ul><li>And on different places (cities, towns, villages) </li></ul>

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Outcomes <ul><li>A strategy needs to be very clear about what you want to achieve </li></ul><ul><li>And express this in measurable ways </li></ul><ul><li>This may be about homes, the economy, transport, places </li></ul>

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Delivery <ul><li>And the strategy needs to be clear about who needs to do what to achieve the outcomes </li></ul><ul><li>But not details about projects and money </li></ul><ul><li>Need support from key delivery agencies </li></ul>

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Preparing a Strategy <ul><li>Statutory process – not necessary, but has benefits? </li></ul><ul><li>Government Guidance – too much? </li></ul><ul><li>SA / SEA / HRA – make it useful not just bureacracy </li></ul><ul><li>Independent Examination – useful, but could be streamlined </li></ul><ul><li>Timetable – 3 years possible, and reasonable? </li></ul>

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Ways of Working <ul><li>Need people with capacity and expertise </li></ul><ul><li>Importance of working together </li></ul><ul><li>Effective project management </li></ul><ul><li>Engagement with stakeholders </li></ul><ul><li>And wider public </li></ul>

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Strategic Issues <ul><li>Vision </li></ul><ul><li>Roles of places </li></ul><ul><li>Economy </li></ul><ul><li>Housing </li></ul><ul><li>Transport </li></ul><ul><li>Environment </li></ul>

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Vision <ul><li>Motherhood and Apple Pie is nice of course. But make your Vision </li></ul><ul><li>Long term and ambitious (but realistic) </li></ul><ul><li>Spatially specific (about places) </li></ul><ul><li>Quantified/quantifiable </li></ul><ul><li>Linked to clear outcomes </li></ul>

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Roles of Places <ul><li>Provide clarity about future complementary roles of cities and towns </li></ul><ul><li>This may be about types of economic activity, services, attractions, housing offer, etc </li></ul>

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Economy <ul><li>Be clear about things with big impact </li></ul><ul><li>Plan for the economy, not “employment land” </li></ul><ul><li>Understand sectors, markets, supply chains </li></ul><ul><li>Identify areas of significant economic change </li></ul><ul><li>Be enabling, not prescriptive </li></ul>

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Housing <ul><li>Understand housing markets and areas </li></ul><ul><li>Be clear about where new housing should be (but “targets”?) </li></ul><ul><li>But also existing homes </li></ul><ul><li>Regeneration v. market pressures </li></ul>

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Transport <ul><li>Identify significant priorities for management and investment </li></ul><ul><li>Need to link these to roles of places, where people will live and work </li></ul><ul><li>Avoid wish lists </li></ul>

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Other potentially “strategic” Issues <ul><li>Energy generation and distribution </li></ul><ul><li>Waste management </li></ul><ul><li>Minerals supply </li></ul><ul><li>Green Belt </li></ul>

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Essential ingredients <ul><li>Recipe for Mom’s apple pie: </li></ul><ul><li>Picture </li></ul><ul><li>Ingredients / quantities </li></ul><ul><li>Instructions </li></ul><ul><li>Similarly, an effective strategy should include: </li></ul><ul><li>Diagram / map </li></ul><ul><li>Clear outcomes </li></ul><ul><li>Resources </li></ul><ul><li>Who needs to do what </li></ul>

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Conclusions <ul><li>Strategic spatial planning can be effective </li></ul><ul><li>Provides clarity about long term aims </li></ul><ul><li>Makes connections between different activities and interventions </li></ul><ul><li>Not just about “planning” </li></ul><ul><li>No perfect geography – make it work for whatever area partnerships can be effectively based on </li></ul>

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Strategic Planning Will Return