The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) has this to say on
its Blog about the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The highlights are SNUB’s!
October 18, 2011
PAS is supporting authorities in getting their plans in
place. I have spoken to over 100 authorities over the past few months. So what?
Well, one key phrase I’m hearing is “of course we have had to stop work on the
core strategy to see how we can turn it into a local plan”. The following is
not a criticism of any of those authorities, but I want to just throw this out
here:
Your core strategy IS your local plan.
A local plan is not a single document. It is where you set
out all your policies. You have several tools to deliver this. You have your
‘overarching, strategic plan’, your ‘other DPDs’, your ‘neighbourhood plans’.
Sound familiar? It should!
Do you remember when you last felt confident, bold,
innovative or inspired? We should stop being fearful of changes made at the
centre. I understand that we are all nervous when change comes in. However, say
this quietly, these reforms aren’t as radical as has been trumpeted.
This is still a plan-led system, and plans should be evidence-led. That evidence
starts with the vision and objectives you are trying to achieve. You understand where these have
come from because your communities have told you. There is empirical
evidence that tells those communities that there are some issues that will have
to be tackled head-on by the plan. There is then a conversation between you and your communities,
including key people who hold other information that you need, and who
own sites you are going to have to look at.
You develop policies that will help deliver the aspirations,
the needs and demands of the place. You refine them through conversations with the community and you
produce a plan, which will deliver the change needed to meet the vision for the
place.
Today, this is called a ‘Core Strategy’. Some time next
year, it will be called a ‘Local Plan’. Call it ‘Brian’. Call it whatever you
like. Just make sure it has been prepared with the involvement of the
community, using evidence they understand, and containing policies you are
certain will turn the place you are planning into the place that everyone wants
to see.
There are other interesting Blogs on the PAS site. Go and have a look see at http://planningadvisor.wordpress.com
The National Planning Policy Framework is a charter written in the same tone as the NHS reforms. It deliberately underplays the excessive and unwarranted changes being proposed and is careless of the loss of democratic influence.
ReplyDeleteThe Planning Advisory Service represents the narrow mechanical world of planners. The premise that this is community led is false. It is planner driven and secretive. Even the rhetoric stinks of hypocrisy.
How can visions and objectives be evidence?
Just make sure it has been prepared with the involvement of the community, using evidence they understand, and containing policies you are certain will turn the place you are planning into the place that everyone wants to see.
ReplyDeleteSO WHY NOT!