Colin buchanan

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act (2009) requires all county councils, unitary district councils and London boroughs to carry out an assessment of the economic conditions of their area. In anticipation of this Act, the government published draft guidance on Local Economic Assessments in August 2009, which underwent stakeholder consultation later that year, with the final statutory guidance being released by CLG in March 2010. The IDeA and PAS have also released sector-led guidance, providing a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide for undertaking LEAs.

The key objectives of LEAs are to:

• Provide a sound understanding of the economic conditions in the area and how they affect the well-being of residents and businesses
• Identify the economic linkages between the area assessed and the wider economy
• Identify the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the local economy and the nature and form of local economic challenges and opportunities
• Identify the constraints to local economic growth and employment and the risks to delivering sustainable economic growth
• Build the capacity of the local authority to tailor solutions to local economic challenges

Colin Buchanan is one of the UK’s leading economics, planning and transport consultancies with a very flexible approach to assisting clients with their Local Economic Assessments. We have put together a dedicated team of consultants with the necessary expertise who together have worked for more than 200 local authorities across the country.

The team has developed an approach that is compliant with CLG/IDeA guidance but that also recognises undertaking a Local Economic Assessment is not a standard process where simply one-size-fits-all. We provide our clients with a menu of options according to their needs, including:

• The necessary data for establishing a robust evidence base, provided in a user-friendly excel spreadsheet which is handed over fully to the client
• Stakeholder engagement and consultation, including business surveys
• Analysis of the data and its policy implications, including a full worklessness assessment and work and skills plan
• Challenge sessions to ensure in-house assessments are robust
• Training in all aspects of economic assessments
• Knowledge transfer, with joint working with in-house teams

We are also able to add value by going beyond the core objectives of LEAs and providing supplementary streams of work which are tailored to the identified challenges and opportunities that face your individual area. Examples of work might include:

• In depth analysis of commuting patterns to understand the dynamics of the labour market
• Investigation into the spatial, accessibility and structural constraints of the area
• Examination of the links between worklessness, skills, and transport
• Identification of spatial mismatches between housing and employment growth

Bridget Rosewell, Chairman of Volterra, and CB Directors John Siraut, John Pounder and Atholl Noon oversee the multidisciplinary team of consultants offering services across the country. Contact economics@cbuchanan.co.uk for more details.

Bridget Rosewell
Chairman of Volterra
Bridget is one of the UK’s most influential economists, with a twenty year track record in advising public and private sector clients on key strategic issues. Her specialist expertise includes economic development, transport and agglomeration economics, development evaluation, infrastructure, forecasting, industry dynamics and competition as well as policy analysis related to these areas.

Bridget is currently the Consultant Chief Economic Adviser to the GLA and Mayor of London, and between 2002 and 2008 was the Chief Economist to the GLA. She has previously founded and developed several successful consultancies, including Business Strategies Ltd, which is now part of Experian. In her policy and advisory work, Bridget was one of the ‘Seven Wise Men’ who advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997, and has since then been an advisor to the Treasury Committee on Monetary Policy of the House of Commons. Since 1999 Bridget has been a Non-Executive Director for Britannia Building Society and currently chairs its Audit Committee.

John Siraut
Economics Director at Colin Buchanan
John has over 20 years experience of working for both the public and private sectors. This has included spells at HM Treasury overseeing regional policy and expenditure and Ernst & Young where he helped establish its highly successful inward investment consulting team.

Over the last ten years with Colin Buchanan John has directed scores of economic development studies ranging from devising regional and local economic strategies, advising on the regeneration benefits of street markets, assessing affordability in the housing market and advising on cluster policies, to researching the link between transport and economic development. John is widely quoted in the media and writes a blog for Local Transport Today.

John Pounder
Planning Director at Colin Buchanan
John has over 15 years experience in spatial planning and economic development. John began his career as a town planner in a London Borough before moving to economic development and environmental consultancy with ECOTEC. Here he gained extensive experience in the preparation and evaluation of regional and local economic development programmes and associated research.

As Planning Manager at the South East England Regional Assembly, John was a senior member of the team responsible for producing the Draft South East Plan, and led the Assembly’s work on the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Sub Regional Strategy. He also led the production of the draft RSS Implementation Plan; a precursor to the Infrastructure Plans which now accompany all development plans. At Colin Buchanan John has further developed his expertise in the field of infrastructure planning and funding; advising national, regional and local government clients.

Atholl Noon
Director of Transport Planning at Colin Buchanan
Atholl is Director of Transport Planning, and has worked at Colin Buchanan for 20 years. He is responsible for all aspects of sustainable travel from public transport to walking as well as being a leading expert on parking. He has directed a number of major multi-modal transport strategies in cities and towns such as Oxford, Durham, Rugby and Cambridge.

Atholl has been actively involved in the development of local authorities’ local transport plans and local implementation plans as well as supporting successful funding applications from a wide range of sources.