Contact: Roger Lawes, ext 6743

1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

That:

(i) the County Council presses for membership of the Regional Planning Committee as a clear signal of intent to influence the role of Hampshire in the region, in the meantime meetings of the Regional Planning Committee should be monitored by the Director of Environment and a nominated Executive Member;

(ii) in consultation with the Executive Member for Environment, the Director of Environment explores with SEERA and other partners a clear role for Hampshire in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of a South East Regional Spatial Strategy and relevant sub regional strategies, and reports back to Cabinet as appropriate;

(iii) the Chief Executive and Director of Environment work with local and regional partners with a view to influencing the emerging secondary legislation associated with the Planning Bill; and

(iv) the Executive Member for Community Development and Regeneration explores the opportunities to influence the new spatial planning regime through the community planning process and engages the Local Strategic Partnerships in the debate about the consequences of lifestyle choices.

2. Reason

2.1 The Planning Bill removes the statutory strategic plan-making function of the County Council. The time is therefore ripe to engage partners at both the local and regional level to ensure that a new role emerges for the County Council that reflects its status both as a service provider and the voice of the community on strategic matters. The challenge for the County Council is to find ways of demonstrating how it can use the energy and resources currently targeted at delivering the statutory plan-making process, both to influence and add value to the plan-making activities that will, in future, be largely vested in others.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 The option of not engaging in discussions and debate about the future role of the County Council in the light of the Planning Bill was rejected on the grounds that it would deny the County Council the opportunity both to influence the changes and to demonstrate innovative community leadership.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or a Member or Officer consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: ..................................... Date: ....................................

Councillor T K B Thornber

Contact: Roger Lawes, ext 6743

1. Background

1.1 The Comprehensive Performance Assessment identified that the strength and authority of Hampshire County Council derives as much from the ways in which it uses its influence to address community concerns as from the efficiency and effectiveness with which it delivers its statutory services. Nevertheless, despite its place in the top `excellent' category, the County Council has been at pains to point out that there is still much to be done to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. This desire for improvement provides both a challenge and an opportunity for the County Council to extend its influence and demonstrate to the community that it listens and learns.

1.2 The County Council's watch-words of effective community engagement and innovative leadership chime with the Government's approach to improving public services. There is also a shared underlying desire for services which integrate seamlessly and which are focused on outcomes rather than outputs and enable communities to shape their lives.

1.3 This discussion paper explores briefly how the proposed new plan-making agendas arising from the Planning Bill and community strategies could be used to the County Council's advantage. Although at first sight this analysis might be considered unique to the Environment Department, the move away from traditional land-use plans to more integrated spatial development plans will directly impact on all County Council services. Accordingly, embracing these new agendas could have positive and lasting benefits for the whole County Council.

2. The Planning Bill

2.1 The Planning Bill reforms not only the planning process but also the way the planning process operates. The aim is to make planning more focused on outcomes and become an effective mechanism for helping communities shape their environments.

2.2 Although the Bill removes the statutory strategic plan-making function of the County Council, it provides the opportunity for some innovative thinking about a future role. The challenge for the County Council is to find ways of demonstrating how it can use the energy and resources currently targeted at delivering the statutory plan-making process to both influence and add value to the plan-making activities that will, in future, be largely vested in others.

2.3 The latest advice from the ODPM suggests that County Councils could have an important role "assisting Regional Planning Bodies (RPBs) with the preparation and review of the new Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) and in providing advice and information to districts in preparing the new local development documents". The extent of this role is still to be determined. It could range from the potentially divisive activity of policing the regional plan on behalf of the RPB to more positive engagement in a variety of activities that influence how development and change will be managed.

2.4 The ODPM also suggests that "through engagement with local strategic partnerships ..... County Councils ..... may be able to advise on the spatial interrelationships between development and public service provision or infrastructure". These `spatial interrelationships' are the new idea in the proposed local development document, which will now be expected to integrate priorities for development together with priorities for environmental protection, improvement and management; transport and other infrastructure; and the supply of services to meet the social and economic needs of the community. Only a brief glance at these characteristics is sufficient to show that the County Council must have a significant role in their preparation. This role will be significant at both the local and regional levels.

2.5 The time is ripe to engage partners at both the local and regional level to ensure that the role that emerges for the County Council reflects its status both as a service provider and the voice of the community on strategic matters: ie those matters where a trade-off has to be made between the demands of the local community and the needs of the wider community.

3. The Regional Assemblies (Preparation) Act

3.1 This Act delivers the Government's commitment to elected regional assemblies. There are both national (resource) and EU (resource) drivers towards regionalism. Moreover, there is a general drift by Government towards regional structures for its agencies and for its own administrative convenience. Although the South East is not a natural region and the message from the public appears to be that regional government is not favoured in this part of the country, the voluntary regional arrangements (the South East England Regional Assembly [SEERA]) are already in place. These arrangements provide the forum for the County Council to promote its own models of modern local governance.

3.2 SEERA, as the Regional Planning Body, is current considering its response to the proposed new plan-making framework. The South East Counties' Chief Executive Group has offered one view of how the skills, knowledge and responsibilities of County Councils should be harnessed in the process. The district and unitary councils are preparing their own response, the draft of which, although recognising the particular professional skills offered by County Councils, proposes a two-way region-district/unitary partnership as the key axis for regional activity working in cooperation with County Councils and other key public sector partners. Setting aside the question of regional governance, the time is ripe to establish a clear and pivotal developmental role for the County Council by using its acknowledged skills and strengths both to help the region to think strategically and districts to deliver locally.

4. The Development of Community Strategies and Local Strategic Partnerships

4.1 The County Council is involved in numerous activities, ranging from traditional plan-making and implementation to more contemporary cross- cutting and thematic studies. Each is equally important in its own right but increasingly each needs to be considered in relation to the service as a whole. In the past the Corporate Strategy has provided a unifying thread for all these various activities. In future the thread will be provided by the Community Strategy.

4.2 Community Strategies and Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are at the heart of the Government's inclusion and delivery agenda. They are seen as the practical tool for councils and their partners to ensure the economic, social and environmental well-being of the community. Community strategies are required to set out:

(i) a long-term, shared vision for the area focusing on achievable outcomes;

(ii) specific goals and priorities that will contribute to those outcomes; and

(iii) an agreed action plan for meeting those goals and priorities.

4.3 It follows, therefore, that the implementation of the Community Strategy must be linked to the day-to-day activity of the partners and be central to their planning and resource allocation activity. Inevitably a Community Strategy will not cover every local issue nor will it influence or direct every project undertaken by the partners. Nevertheless, it is inconceivable that many of the tasks undertaken by the County Council will fall through the Community Strategy net and be deliverable as isolated, independent activities. Moreover, as the tool for delivering community well-being, it follows that the Community Strategy activity must be linked with and central to the planning and resource allocation activity of the County Council, as well as all the other partners.

4.4 It is, as yet, early days for LSPs. At the district level the common desire at the moment is to achieve some quick wins to establish their purpose and authority. At the County level the partnership has started to identify the key strategic issues for Hampshire, taking into account the work carried out by the 11 district partnerships. Some LSPs have also now recognised their potentially powerful role, not only to influence the plans and investment strategies of the individual partners, but also to enhance democratic accountability within the various partner organisations.

4.5 Successive polls of the Hampshire community have identified common and continuing concerns, many of which have also been reflected in the various district-wide polls commissioned in recent years. Reducing congestion on the roads, improving educational attainment, working with young people and an integrated approach to meeting the needs of older people are core, community concerns. Overarching these specific issues is the realisation 21st Century lifestyles will need to change if future generations are expected to value the Hampshire they inherit.

4.6 Many of the activities of the County Council require careful consideration of the choices available. An increasingly sophisticated and, at times, polarised public wants not only to be informed of the choices and the consequences but also more engaged in the decision-making process. The County Council has had notable successes in leading and building partnerships to address issues and deliver results. Nevertheless, more still needs to be done to integrate development activity across the range of County Council services, both within the organisation itself and with external partners. The Hampshire Strategic Partnership (HSP) would provide a platform from which this engagement could be cascaded out to a wider community than could ever be reached by the activity of the County Council alone.

5. Conclusions

5.1 There will inevitably be difficulties when considering the future role of the County Council in a changing local and regional environment, and these should not be underestimated. There is comfort in a minimum change strategy and continuing, so far as is possible, with tried and tested processes; there is scepticism about the new regional and European agendas; and there are the inevitable tensions between maintaining delivery of services and the inevitable delays associated with establishing new approaches. However, it is clear that at both the regional and district level thoughts are turning to the new agendas and it is important that the County Council establishes a view on the role it wants to play.

5.2 The County Council could have a significant role in the proposed new planning regime. It will be a different role than in the recent past, but none the less significant for that. The key to that role is clarity over the purpose of engagement. In terms of leadership, membership of the Regional Planning Committee would not only be a clear signal of intent to influence Hampshire's place in the South East Region, but could also be used to promote a clearer division between technical procedures and political judgements. At the procedural level there are a number of options at both local and regional levels carrying a variety of risks that need to be explored. The delay in the process of the Planning Bill through Parliament provides the opportunity to influence how a new role should be reflected into secondary legislation and guidance.

5.3 Informed decision-making assumes that the community understands the various choices and any direct and indirect consequences. It also requires the final decisions to respect (although not necessarily agree with) the variety of views and opinions expressed on the subject. Accordingly, empowering the community to engage in the processes of development and change requires leadership, albeit of a different form than traditionally exercised in the past.

5.4 The development of LSPs and the preparation of Community Strategies provide an opportunity for the County Council to promote this new form of leadership, by demonstrating its competence in orchestrating informed debate and effective outcomes to the problems created by 21st Century lifestyles.

Recommendations

That:

(i) the County Council presses for membership of the Regional Planning Committee as a clear signal of intent to influence the role of Hampshire in the region, in the meantime meetings of the Regional Planning Committee should be monitored by the Director of Environment and a nominated Executive Member;

(ii) in consultation with the Executive Member for Environment, the Director of Environment explores with SEERA and other partners a clear role for Hampshire in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of a South East Regional Spatial Strategy and relevant sub regional strategies, and reports back to Cabinet as appropriate;

(iii) the Chief Executive and Director of Environment work with local and regional partners with a view to influencing the emerging secondary legislation associated with the Planning Bill; and

(iv) the Executive Member for Community Development and Regeneration explores the opportunities to influence the new spatial planning regime through the community planning process and engages the Local Strategic Partnerships in the debate about the consequences of lifestyle choices.

8124/RL