Consolidated services offer a chance to lead

Planning, 25 July 2008

The challenge to plan spatially means that planners must consider how a wide range of high-quality, accessible, cost-effective and joined-up community services are provided, funded and delivered.

The Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS) deals with many large-scale housing projects where planners are trying to grapple with the impact of development proposals on local services provided and funded by multiple public and private sector organisations.

This may feel like a daunting task, but planners do not need to be experts in health, education, community, recreation and emergency services. Increasingly, public services are recognising their shared aspirations. Some are obvious, like the relationship between educational achievement and crime or access to green space, exercise and health. But historically, services have typically sought to safeguard their own resources rather than seeking partnership solutions.

In co-ordinating the response to growth, planners have a clear opportunity to help other agencies in making such connections and to strengthen their central role in this process. Also relevant is the separation between commissioning and provision of services and the increasing role of the voluntary and private sectors in delivery.

With the development of more joined-up service solutions, the provision of stand-alone buildings to provide a single service is increasingly seen as limited. Examples of successful co-location can be seen in the health sector. The plans of local agencies should be articulated and co-ordinated in the sustainable community strategy agreed by the local strategic partnership (LSP).

One model of ensuring timely communication is to set up a local infrastructure delivery group under the LSP, through which the different agencies can ensure that their service plans relate to housing growth and changes in demands. Another example is the joint health and well-being strategy produced by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets planning department and the area's primary care trust (PCT).

Planners have never been more aware of the importance of evidence in making decisions. Rather than attempting to become experts in a seemingly ever-growing list of services, real engagement can provide the core data direct from the service itself, with an informed dialogue ensuring that it is relevant to the planning process.

To develop tariff-type formulae or argue for section 106 support, planners need to be clear about the funding regime for the relevant service, including alternative sources. In education, for example, the money for additional pupils follows shortly after the school place is needed, whereas for health it can take several years for PCT funding to reflect the demand created by a new housing scheme.

One helpful tool is the Social Infrastructure Matrix produced by ATLAS. Tested on a variety of large-scale projects, this structures a dialogue between planners and relevant agencies and provides clear evidence of what is needed as a project management tool to identify tasks and responsibilities.

- Tim Chapman is sustainable communities consultant at ATLAS, which is funded by the DCLG as part of the Planning Advisory Service and hosted by English Partnerships. For more information, please visit www.atlasplanning.com.