Events

Joint Core Strategy for Greater Norfolk - Greater Norfolk Development Partnership

Spatial strategies award commendation 2011

Summary

The joint core strategy sets out a long term vision for the three districts of Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk. All are very different in both character and political make-up, but which share an agenda for growth. The commitment to joint working by the authorities, despite their manifest differences, is highly commendable and an exemplar for the forthcoming duty to co-operate.

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Background

Achieving growth point status under the last government led to decisions being made on how to enable the three districts to benefit from growth whilst ensuring that this was adequately supported by infrastructure. Whilst the formation of a joint committee structure was unacceptable politically, the three councils agreed to form an informal partnership to develop the core strategy with input from the County Council, who provided a strategic overview.

Project description

Very strong project management was provided by an externally appointed project manager, who used her skills to ensure that at all stages the momentum was maintained and key decisions made by acting as an effective ‘critical friend’. By working through an informal partnership there was real commitment by all parties to work collaboratively. All issues were discussed and challenged through joint working at officer and member level and extensive community involvement maintained community input.

The authorities faced considerable challenges during the four year plan preparation process, including the Local Government Review; local government elections; the change of national Government and with it uncertainty as to the status of the RSS. The localism agenda and the local enterprise partnership has led to further change, but the informal partnership has remained strong with a renewed commitment to continue to work jointly on an investment plan, a single CIL charging schedule, and a five year business plan for development.

Planning achievement

The joint strategy is an exceptionally well put together document which is easy to follow, well structured under a set of themes and with a very small number (20) of carefully constructed policies which are spilt into those relating to the area as a whole and those relating to places. It is concise at 156 pages including ‘contents’ and ‘appendices’ and very well illustrated with each section including a clear and helpful reference to the evidence base;
Key strengths of the working approach have been the lack of parochialism, as all members of the team, both elected and officer share ownership of the core strategy;
There has been strong leadership provided by the directors of all three authorities, who brought a range of professional expertise and ensured that the benefits of joint working were not confined to the preparation of the joint strategy;
The approach taken reflects the fact that planning transcends LA boundaries;
Working together has strengthened the plan by providing the team with the confidence to deliver more exacting policies and standards, for example in relation to water efficiency and design, than might not have been achieved by the individual authorities working alone;
Collectively they were also able to commission good studies to provide a strong evidence base for the plan;
The commitment shown by the three authorities, despite their manifest differences is highly commendable and an exemplar for the forthcoming duty to co-operate.