21. IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING CHAPTER

Introduction

21.1 The preceding chapters have set out, either on a “topic” or “area” basis, the Council’s package of planning policies within the framework of its overall planning strategy.

21.2 It is the purpose of this chapter to indicate:

(a) how this extensive range of policies and proposals will be implemented through the actions and activities of:

(i) the Borough Council itself;

(ii) other statutory agencies and bodies;

(iii) the private sector;

(b) how monitoring of the Plan’s progress will be undertaken in order to:

(i) take account of changing circumstances at national, regional, county or local levels;

(ii) see how far any stated targets for measuring plan performance are being met.

IMPLEMENTATION

21.3 It should be stressed at the outset that “implementation” of policies and proposals, as discussed below, is couched within the essentially land use context of this Plan. This in no way lessens the significance and importance of complementary work undertaken by other Council service areas and statutory agencies in seeking to improve the social, economic and physical environment of Colchester residents. This fact has already been given due recognition in the introductory chapter.

21.4 There are therefore a wide array of agencies that ultimately have a hand in ensuring that any set of development proposals are brought fully to fruition. These include, for example, utility companies providing gas, electricity, water and telecommunications links, and, in the field of transportation, companies providing bus, passenger train and rail freight services.

21.5 However, in looking at implementation of policies and proposals in the context of this plan, a more focused approach has been followed. This avoids listing every conceivable agency or body that would ultimately be involved in implementing particular types of development scheme, and concentrates on those that have a major direct and initiating role in implementation. It also omits bodies that would give advice at the time that Colchester Borough Council (CBC) as the Local Planning Authority (LPA) was considering a planning application.

21.6 In this context, Schedule 1 lists the main implementing agencies by policy within each policy area. This clearly shows that the single most important implementation mechanism will be the development control process stemming from the Council’s role as the LPA. Other Borough Council services and other agencies take on complementary implementation roles to a greater or lesser degree depending on the policy area under consideration.

21.7 It should be emphasised at this point that the success of Colchester Borough Council, as Local Planning Authority, in implementing its Plan policies and proposals often closely rests on the related success of its partnerships with other statutory bodies and the private sector. Examples of such partnerships are the Town Centre Management Initiative, the Colne and Blackwater Estuaries Projects, the various area fora (eg Tiptree Forum) and, two major new partnerships of relevant interests aimed at the promotion of the regeneration of East Colchester and the raising of Colchester Boroughs sub-regional status (the Haven Gateway Partnership).

21.8 The role of the Private sector in implementation can be generally summarised as:

(i) initiating sets of development proposals within the framework of relevant Local Plan policies and proposals;

(ii) providing the financial, management and other resources needed to implement the scheme in question;

(iii) ensuring the provision of other infrastructure, facilities and services that are required as a direct consequence of implementing a particular development scheme.

21.9 In respect of (iii) immediately above, Circular 1/97 on “Planning Obligations” sets out criteria for assessing whether such “extra requirements” should be sought from a prospective developer by an LPA. Such obligations should be necessary, relevant to planning, directly related to the proposed development, fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development, and reasonable in all other respects.

21.10 In this context, it will have been noted that various policies in different policy areas carry “extra requirements” of two main kinds:

(i) The provision of additional background information in the form of statements or plans that the LPA needs to make a proper consideration of particular types of development proposals; or

(ii) The provision of other infrastructure, facilities or services that will ensure the successful integration of new development into the surrounding pattern of land uses and community fabric.

21.11 These “extra requirements” are brought together in one listing for the benefit of prospective developers in Schedule 2.

MONITORING

The Need for Monitoring

21.12 There are a number of reasons why monitoring is an essential part of the plan-making process:

(i) To review changing circumstances from the national (or even international) level to the local level;

(ii) To see what is happening “on the ground” within the plan area;

(iii) To review the utility and relevance of particular individual or sets of policies over time as the Plan period elapses;

(iv) To ensure that any specific plan targets are being met according to a particular time-frame.

These four reasons are looked at in more detail below.

Catalysts for Change

21.13 There are potentially a substantial variety of new or persisting factors that will have a bearing on the plan’s progress, its continuing relevance and how up to date it remains. These include, for example:

(i) Changes in, or new sets of, policy guidance from Central Government. For example, there has been a steady stream of completely new or revised Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs) since the early 1990s;

(ii) Upturns or downturns in the state of the national economy. The recession of the early 1990s clearly stifled development activity in the Borough, affecting the take up rates for allocated industrial and residential land. The current downturns in other parts of the globalised economy, such as, that in south-east Asia, may again affect levels of economic activity and the demand for land in this part of the world over the next few years;

(iii) Established trends in society, such as those towards a smaller average size of household or the increasing numbers of single parent and older person households, will clearly influence overall levels of housing demand and the types and styles of housing being sought;

(iv) Increasing reliance on the private car as the principal mode of transport for many households, based on the fact that the costs of driving have fallen by 2% in real terms since 1974, while bus fares have risen by 55% and rail fares by 71% in real terms over the same period, increases higher than that of disposable income;

(v) Emerging streams of policy guidance at regional and county (Structure Plan) levels in a situation where these plan-forming processes are often running in parallel with, rather than neatly preceding, the Local Plan preparation process.

Changes “On the Ground” in the Plan Area

21.14 The types of “catalysts for change” outlined above can clearly have very profound repercussions for – or, alternatively, more marginal influences on – Colchester’s economy and its patterns of land use, environment and lifestyles. They also can decisively alter the parameters within which local planning policy is formulated and implemented. For example, a change in the number of houses to be accommodated within the Borough within a Plan period, as fed down from the latest government household formation projections through the Regional and Structure Plan levels of planning.

21.15 These wider changes, where relevant, are reflected in changes at the local level, as revealed by such indicators as industrial land take up rates, the number of houses being built, traffic pollution levels or the number of empty shops in the Town Centre. If these indicators are regularly and accurately monitored, they can assist in the fine tuning of Plan policies and proposals at times of review.

Continuing Utility and Relevance of Plan Policies and Proposals

21.16 There is a need to monitor the utility and continuing relevance of Plan policies, but particularly those that are either radically altered in form or content from an earlier version or policies that may be breaking entirely new ground.

21.17 Indications of utility or relevance can be measured by such means as the number of times that a particular policy has been seen as material in determining or refusing planning applications, or its success or otherwise when tested at Section 78 inquiries. From these indications will stem the need to delete, radically amend, refine or leave unchanged the particular policy in question.

The Need for Plan Targets

21.18 If properly selected, targets can be an important central feature in the systematic measurement of how well a Plan is performing, or alternatively, is actually being realised in practice. It can be useful in equal measure to plan-makers, decision-makers and local citizens.

21.19 However, there are certain requirements of any target, including:

(i) clarity as to what is being measured;

(ii) whether the chosen target is meaningful to all interested parties;

(iii) whether there is information already available or readily accessible for measuring the target.

21.20 There are a number of additional points to be made regarding the identification of targets:

(i) It is much easier to find targets for some policy areas (eg housing, transportation) than for others (eg countryside, pollution and land resources);

(ii) In policy areas such as housing and transportation, there is a distinct danger of introducing targets that are corporate, but not strictly linked to land use policies (eg for traffic reduction, changes to non-car mode by journey purpose, number of houses modernised), and which should appear more appropriately in local transport or housing strategies;

(iii) Some targets will be “negative” in the way they are stated (eg no loss of listed buildings by demolition), but this does not make them any less valid than “positive” targets.

21.21 Bearing these considerations in mind, Schedule 3 sets out a number of targets that will help to chart the Plan’s progress and can be regularly monitored.

Future Intentions for Plan Monitoring

21.22 The Council intends to issue annual monitoring reports on all aspects of Plan progress from the time that the plan is formally adopted.

21.23 Based on these monitoring reports, the Council will identify any need to:

(i) delete, amend or add to the adopted package of policies, and/or

(ii) issue Supplementary Planning Guidance – for example, in the form of planning briefs for particular housing or employment sites, or to amplify how it is intended that particular policies should operate. A programme of review and new SPG is underway.

21.24 The Local Plan will be reviewed following the introduction of a new national planning system in 2004 and, will be known as the Local Development Framework.