Everyone who works within UK or Irish planning systems is aware of the amount of information and guidance available and how time consuming and difficult it can be to find what you need.

This page aims to provide links to key web sites and documents which will help planners in their day-to-day working lives. Scroll down to browse the topics and the information available.

Further information on planning related documents is available from our Library and Information Service.

This page will evolve and expand over time as new guidance is published and the RTPI is able to devote more time to developing this resource, a process that it is hopes to develop in partnership with others.

The links currently only refer to practice advice relevant to the English Planning system. It is hoped that advice specific to Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be available in the near future.

This page contains a many links to external websites. Whilst the RTPI will make every effort to ensure that they are up to date we cannot guarantee their accuracy. If you come across any links that no longer work or documents which are missing contact practice@rtpi.org.uk

Signpost Index

• Ageing Population
• Community Involvement
• Disability
• Elected Members
• Equality and Diversity
• Gender
• Gypsy and Traveller Communities
• Health and Spatial Planning

Ageing Population

Title: Extra Care Housing Toolkit
Publisher: Care Services Improvement Partnership (Department of Health)
Date: 2006
Audience: Housing, care and planning professionals
Resource: Toolkit
Description: Assists in the development of extra care housing in the context of the wider accommodation and service needs of older people. It offers a structured approach to developing policy and locally based initiatives and a variety of tools designed to facilitate thinking about extra care.

Title: Extra Care Housing (GPN8)
Publisher: RTPI and Department of Health
Date: October 2007
Audience: General

Description: Guidance to support the planning response to the growing demand for a broad range of extra care housing, as part of meeting the housing needs of an ageing population in the UK.

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Community Involvement

Title: Effective Community Involvement and Consultation
Publisher: RTPI
Date: Revised 2007
Audience: Planners, Planning Aid volunteers, other planning stakeholders
Resource: Good practice guide
Description: Provides a corps of best practice on key aspects of community involvement, in an easy to absorb format. Plus four case studies.

Title: Communityplanning.net
Publisher: RTPI and Nick Waites Associates
Date: Ongoing
Audience: General
Resource: Website
Description: Comprehensive web based resource outlining general principles, methods, scenarios and case studies relating to all aspects of community planning.

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Disability

• Disability Rights Commission
• The Access Association
• Centre for Accessible Environments
• Guidance on Planning, Building, Streets and Disability Equality, DRC (2006) – a guide to the Disability Equality Duty and the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 for local authority departments.
• Disability Equality Duty: Draft Guidance for Public Authorities on How to Effectively Involve Disabled People, DRC (2006)
• Design and Access Statements: How to Write, Read and Use Them, CABE (2006) - supports the DCLG Circular 01/06 Guidance on Changes to the Development Control System and encourages people to think about how inclusive, practical and attractive a place will be once it is built.
• Greater London Authority Disability Equality Scheme, GLA (2005) aims to facilitate the removal of barriers for all disabled and Deaf people, including those who don&rsquot automatically identify themselves as disabled.

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Elected Members

Title: Positive Engagement: A Guide for Planning Councillors
Publisher: Planning Advisory Service
Date: 2005
Audience: Elected members
Resource: Guidance
Description: A pocket guide for planning councillors to help them navigate the probity risks in developer meetings and pre-application discussions.

Title: Neighbourhood Renewal and Social Inclusion: A Councillor's Guide
Publisher: IdeA
Date: 2006
Audience: Elected members
Resource: Guidance
Description: Provides a common understanding for all councillors of what neighbourhood renewal means and why it is important in creating sustainable communities.

Title: The Handy Guide to Planning
Publisher: Urban Forum and RTPI
Date: 2006
Audience: Elected members, planning stakeholders and the general public
Resource: Overview guide
Description: Explains what planning means, then goes on to give an overview of the planning system at the national, regional and local levels.

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Equality and Diversity

• The new Commission for Equality and Human Rights will operate from October 2007.
• Diversity and Equality in Planning: A Good Practice Guide, ODPM (2005) – shows how planners can take account of the planning needs of a diverse population in their policies and practices.

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Gender

• GPN7: Gender and Spatial Planning RTPI (2007) Examines definitions of equality, the legal responsibilities of planners and the key gender issues affecting spatial planning.
• Equal Opportunities Commission www.eoc.org.uk includes a countdown to the Gender Equality Duty
• Women and Equality Unit - develops policies relating to gender equality and ensures that work on equality across Government as a whole is co-ordinated.
• Oxfam ReGender Project - works to ensure women&rsquos and men&rsquos needs are taken into account in regeneration schemes
• Women's Design Service - works to ensure that the design and use of the built environment reflects the needs and aspirations of women
• Gender Equality and Plan Making: The Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit, RTPI (2001) - a practical toolkit to help LPAs integrate gender issues into their plan making processes.
• Into the Lion's Den: A Practical Guide to including Women in Regeneration, Oxfam (2006) – aims to develop the capacity of community based groups in regeneration to ensure local regeneration projects include women and address their needs

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Gypsy and Traveller Communities

Title: Planning for Gypsies and Travellers (GPN4)
Publisher: RTPI
Date: 2007
Audience: General
Resource: Good practice note
Description: A series of four practice notes advising on communication, consultation and participation, accommodation needs assessment, plan policy, allocation, development management and enforcement.

Title: Designing Gypsy and Traveller Sites: good practice guide NEW!
Publisher: DCLG
Date: May 2008
Audience: Potential developers and site owners
Resource: Good practice guide
Description: Provides an understanding of the design features needed to help ensure a site is successful, easy to manage, including site location, layout, size and the services and facilities needed.

Title: Local authorities and Gypsies and Travellers: a guide to responsibilities and powers
Publisher: DCLG
Date: May 2007
Audience: Local authorities
Resource: Good practice guide
Description: Outlines the issues surrounding the shortage of provision of sites for Gypsies and Travellers and the responsibilities and powers of local authorities.

Title: Gypsies and Travellers Unit
Publisher: DCLG
Date: Ongoing
Audience: General
Resource: Website
Description: Provides information on what the Government is doing to ensure that there is a balanced approach to tackling the problems associated with unauthorised sites and understand why site provision must go hand in hand with enforcement.

Title: Circular 01/06 (ODPM): Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites
Publisher: DCLG
Date: February 2006
Audience: Local authorities and Gypsy and Traveller groups
Resource: Government circular
Description: Provides guidance on the planning aspects of finding sites for Gypsies and Travellers and how local authorities and Gypsies and Travellers can work together to achieve that aim.

Title: Common Ground: equality, good race relations and sites for Gypsies and Irish Travellers
Publisher: Commission for Racial Equality (now part of Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
Date: 2006
Audience: General
Resource: Findings from a CRE inquiry
Description: Provides the first authoritative evidence of how local authorities are meeting their statutory duty to promote race equality and good race relations in their work on Gypsy sites.

Title: National Association of Gypsy and Traveller Officers (NAGTO)
Publisher: NAGTO
Date: Established 1997
Audience: Local Authority Gypsy Liaison Officers ("GLOs")
Resource: Website for member organisation
Description: Aims to support local authority officers by disseminating knowledge, compare best practice and improve standards of service.

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Health and Spatial Planning

Title: Outdoor Environments and Health
Publisher: Sustainable Development Commission
Date: March 2008
Audience: General
Resource: Report
Description: Summary of evidence outlining how outdoor environments influence health and well-being.

Title: Health and Planning Toolkit
Publisher: NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit (HUDU)
Date: 2007
Audience: Greater London local planning authorities and primary care trusts
Resource: Online toolkit
Description: Sets out a systematic approach to building the relationship between Primary Care Trusts and LPAs. It acts as a handbook on how the LDF and planning application processes should address health.

Title: Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross Government Strategy for England
Publisher: Department of Health
Date: January 2008
Audience: General
Resource: Government Strategy
Description: Part of a programme to support people to maintain a healthy weight. Examines the latest evidence and trends, and makes recommendations for further action. Includes 'Healthy Towns'.

Title: Economic Assessment of Transport Infrastructure and Policies
Publisher: WHO (Europe)
Date: 2007
Audience: Carrying out cost-benefit of existing or potential transport systems
Resource: Cost-benefit analysis tool
Description: Methodological guidance on the economic appraisal of health effects related to walking and cycling.

Title: Healthy Cities Programme
Publisher: WHO (Europe)
Date: Since 1987
Audience: General
Resource: Website
Description: Comprehensive information on the Healthy Cities Programme, which engages local government across Europe in health development through partnership-based planning and innovative projects.

Title: Health Impact Assessment Toolkit for Cities
Publisher: WHO (Europe)
Date: 2005
Audience: Policy makers
Resource: Toolkit and supporting information
Description: Explains the background to and different forms of impact assessment processes, along with how to practically introduce HIA at the local level. HIA tools are provided as well as case study examples.

Title: A Guide to Town Planning for NHS Staff
Publisher: Department of Health
Date: 2007
Audience: NHS chief executives, directors of public health and directors of estates and facilities
Resource: Introductory guide
Description: Aims to outline the English planning system, explain the correlation between planning and health and encourage NHS organisations to get involved in the planning process.

Title: A Guide to the NHS for Local Planning Authorities
Publisher: Department of Health
Date: 2007
Audience: Local authority planners
Resource: Introductory guide
Description: Outlines the key principles of public health and highlights how planning authorities can interact with NHS organisations to deliver sustainable services.

Title: Health Impact Assessment of Transport Initiatives: A Guide
Publisher: Health Scotland
Date: 2007
Audience: General
Resource: Introductory guidance
Description: Overview of the best available research evidence on the health impacts (positive and negative) of transport initiatives.

Title: Building Health: Creating and enhancing places for healthy, active lives: What needs to be done?
Publisher: National Heart Forum
Date: 2007
Audience: General
Resource: Collection of papers
Description: Considers the problems and offers recommendations aimed at policymakers as well professionals in the fields of transport, planning and architecture to help us build healthier communities.

Title: Physical Activity and the Environment
Publisher: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
Date: 2008
Audience: NHS and built environment professionals
Resource: Public health programme guidance
Description: Offers the first national, evidence-based recommendations on how to improve the physical environment to encourage physical activity. It demonstrates the importance of such improvements and the need to evaluate how they impact on the public's health.

Title: Trees and Woodlands: Nature’s Health Service
Publisher: Forestry Commission
Date: 2005
Audience: Health and environment professionals
Resource: Report and case studies
Description: Provides information and evidence supporting the idea that the use and enjoyment of woodlands and green spaces improves people’s overall health and well-being.

Title: Building in Health
Publisher: Milton Keynes South Midlands Health and Social Care Group
Date: 2006
Audience: General
Resource: Checklist
Description: A checklist and guide to developing healthy sustainable communities.

Title: Unfit for Purpose: How Car Use Fuels Climate Change and Obesity
Publisher: Institute for European Environmental Policy
Date: 2007
Audience: General
Resource: Study findings
Description: Assesses the contribution of the growth in car use to the parallel increases in obesity and climate change.

Title: Health Inequalities Intervention Tool New!
Publisher: London Health Observatory
Date: June 2008
Audience: Primary care trusts and local authorities
Resource: Information source and health inequalities analysis
Description: Provides information on life expectancy and analysis of causes of death; and allows local authorities to estimate the effect on their life expectancy if certain interventions are increased.

Title: Healthy Design Principles for use in the Health Impact Assessment of Mixed Residential Developments
Publisher: Birley HIA
Date: 2007
Audience: Developers and the public sector
Resource: Guide (draft for comment)
Description: Intended for use at the masterplanning stage, when preparing documents in support of outline planning permission.

Title: The Health Impact of Climate Change: Promoting Sustainable Communities
Publisher: Department of Health
Date: April 2008
Audience: General
Resource: Guidance summary
Description: Briefly summarises the potential impact of climate change on health in the UK.

Title: Sustrans Active Travel Publications
Publisher: Sustrans
Date: Ongoing
Audience: General
Resource: Range of information sheets and publications
Description: Promotes the benefits of travelling by walking and cycling.

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Author:

Sarah Lewis

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

11-Jan-07

Categories:

Practice 

Sections:

What Planning Does

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