Colin buchanan

Colin Buchanan has been appointed by the Surrey Improvement Partnership, on behalf of the Surrey local authorities, to undertake the first phase of a three year project assessing infrastructure capacity across the county.

The study is being undertaken in partnership with Capita Symonds, Hewdon Consulting and Professor Janice Morphet – an experienced team with an extensive track record in infrastructure planning. An important and distinctive outcome of the study will be a replicable model for assessing the infrastructure required to support housing and population growth and anticipated demographic changes.  With funding for the study secured from the South East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership one of the requirements of the study will be for the approach developed to be capable of being adapted for use in other parts of the region.

The study will focus on strategic infrastructure, namely those services provides at county wide or sub-regional scale; including transport, secondary and further education, secondary healthcare, energy supply and water supply and treatment. The establishment of effective lines of communication between planning authorities and infrastructure providers as well as robust governance arrangements will be central to the overall success of the project. John Pounder, study director at Colin Buchanan, commented that this ambitious study builds upon good practice from across the country and should provide a useful tool that can be used by individual local authorities across Surrey and the wider South East.

David Hill, Chief Executive of Guildford Borough Council and sponsor of this project on behalf of all Surrey local authorities, added ‘the Surrey Infrastructure Capacity Project is of major significance in Surrey.  Over the next three years, we hope to develop a robust understanding of the infrastructure provision needed to manage future development in the County, starting by identifying the current shortfall in provision.  This is a complex and exciting project and I am delighted with the mix of skills and experience in the team we have appointed.’