Colin buchanan

The economic downturn provides the public sector with the opportunity to undertake some comprehensive assessment of the hard and soft infrastructure that will be needed to stimulate and support future growth. Regional development agencies, local authorities and their partners will welcome some time to assess how the government’s ambitions for large increases in housing can be accompanied by the requisite transport, education, health, utilities and green infrastructure that are essential to make growth sustainable.

In July, Communities and Local Government introduced a requirement for all planning authorities to identify the physical, social and green infrastructure required to support growth; and identify who will be responsible for its delivery, funding and timing. The timing of this policy announcement at the start of the credit crunch was entirely coincidental; however it may be fortuitous.

The slowdown also coincides with the proposed introduction of the community infrastructure levy (CIL). The debate about infrastructure funding was recently dominated by the role played by developer contributions; for the foreseeable future however CIL will not be the goose that lays the golden egg. Instead, local authorities and local strategic partnerships must be more innovative in their search for effective funding and delivery mechanisms. The transformation of service delivery and the rationalisation of asset bases are likely to be the focus of future resource planning in the current economic climate. Practical steps that local authorities and their partners can take have been identified by CB, rmjm and Hewdon in a series of 10 regional workshops, facilitated on behalf of the Planning Advisory Service (see weblink below). So now is the time to get your infrastructure plans in place, before the concrete starts pouring again.

Please click here for the Planning Advisory Service website.

Click to download Delivering a Sound Core Strategy brochure