Central Bedfordshire Councilwww.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

PlacemakingTerms of reference and mechanics

December 2011

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Placemaking

1.0 Background

1.1 In April 2010, cognisant of the high levels of population, housing and employmentgrowth Central Bedfordshire needs to plan for; Senior Management Group (SMG)looked at the opportunity for ‘placemaking groups’ to be formed to streamline theinternal processes required to deliver sustainable development. The AssistantDirector for Planning has led this work.

1.2 In early 2011, discussions were held which led to the agreement to form fourplacemaking groups. These groups are based on the geography set out in the mapon page 4 of this paper. The placemaking groups are intended to have a wider remitthan just the planning process.

2.0 What are the Placemaking Groups intended to deliver?

2.1 The placemaking groups are in essence, a technical officer forum which allowprimarily internal stakeholders, to discuss area based development issues in ajoined up and transparent way. The groups’ mandate is to offer a recommendationor steer on issues associated with changes within our growing towns and villages.They will serve to maximise the benefits for our local communities across allservices that operate to make the authority a successful place to live, work andenjoy. The Placemaking groups are not decision making bodies and do not replaceor form part of the Central Bedfordshire Council formal governance structure.

2.2 Placemaking groups are now set up and have begun to meet or have had their initialmeetings diarized. Once operative, all of the groups will provide regular progressreports to the Placemaking Delivery Board.

2.3 The key ‘business’ or terms of reference of the placemaking groups is to:

To promote and maintain a common understanding of development plans,proposals and associated business aspirations arising for local communities andservice providers in each placemaking area;

Provide the forum to sense-check and steer the technical work on Masterplansand Development Briefs before presenting reports to Development Strategy TaskForce or Development Management Committee;

Provide an internal forum for discussion of developers initial ideas for major newdevelopments and therefore enable a high quality feedback to be collated for thedeveloper on formal pre-application discussions, which are now being chargedfor;

Provide the opportunity for planning case officers to discuss key issues on majorcurrent planning applications and gain corporate feedback before presentingreports to Development Management Committee;

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Provide a forum for Council Officers to receive advice on S106/policy issues theymay face through current planning applications or development proposals;

Coordinate the delivery and monitor the progress of major development andinfrastructure projects which have major impact across the placemaking area;

Monitor and help inform S106 spend by spending officers to help ensure allmoney collected gets spent on time to deliver new local infrastructure for whichcontributions were collected;

Prepare and oversee a Delivery Plan for the area which identifies whendevelopments are due to commence and how they are expected to progress, thetiming and delivery of new infrastructure, the timing and availability of S106funds, internal/stakeholder funds and the opportunities and requirements to bidfor external funding to supplement the development process;

Provide two-monthly progress reports and updates to the Placemaking DeliveryBoard against the Delivery Plan and seek a steer from the Board on key issueswhich arise from placemaking discussions;

Provide a sounding board for major inward investment enquiries seeking a placeto locate new enterprises.

2.4 In addition, it will be the job of the chair of each placemaking group to undertake thefollowing;

To liaise with and determine whether or not to invite other external stakeholdersincluding Town and Parish Councils and local residents groups to inform debateof particular issues;

To liaise with and get a ‘sense check’ from local CBC members on any issuediscussed where they consider it necessary to get a member view on that issuebefore offering a steer to the officer responsible for moving that issue forward;

To determine when it would be appropriate to invite a local CBC ward member(s)for discussion on a particular issue.

3.0 The Geography of the Placemaking Groups

3.1 The four Placemaking Groups are based on the geographical boundaries of thecurrent Development Management areas of East, West and South; with the lattersplit into two due to the complexities surrounding the major conurbations of LeightonBuzzard and Dunstable/Houghton Regis. This is shown on the map below. There isconsiderable merit in adopting this ’geography’ as the experience and knowledgebase of the officers involved is based in these discrete areas.

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3.2 This split provides continuity for the same officers to follow development proposalsfrom inception at the masterplanning and pre-application stages through to theplanning application/delivery stage and ultimately on to implementation andcompletion.

3.3 The operation of four distinct area based groups also allows the agendas of eachgroup to be more focussed and therefore will help to increase efficiency andmaintain the momentum of progress within each area.

4.0 Who is Involved?

4.1 Each placemaking group is staffed by a Chair, a Vice-Chair and a LDF Planner in asupport role. The Chairs are all senior Planning and Development Managers withextensive experience in these geographical areas. The purpose of the LDF Planneris to arrange and facilitate meetings, liaise with all stakeholders and draft agendas incollaboration with the Chairs. While the role of the planning policy officer is partlyadministrative, they also have considerable experience of working within each of thedefined areas and so have been deliberately identified in order to aid the smoothrunning of these meetings.

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4.2 The staffing of the four placemaking groups is set out below.

Group Chair Vice-ChairSupporting

OfficerOther Officer

East

Andrew Davie David Lamb Nicola Dilley

West

Trevor Saunders John Ellis Carry Murphy

Stuart Robinson

LeightonBuzzard &Rural South

Mark Saccoccio David Hale Connie Frost-Bryant

Dunstable &HoughtonRegis

Richard Fox Jon Cliff Lynsey Hillman-Gamble

Saskia Duncan

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4.3 To ensure that Placemaking sessions are both effective and collaborative,attendance and involvement will be required from internal officers and certainexternal stakeholders as set out in the table below.

Planning/DevelopmentStrategy

Transport Environment Other KeyServices

Other

DevelopmentPlan

TransportStrategy

GreenInfrastructure

Education andEarly Years

Adult SocialCare

DevelopmentManagement

HighwaysDevelopmentManagement

Landscape.Ecology andArboriculture

Adult SocialCare andLandlordServices

PropertyServices

StrategicHousing

SustainableTransport

CountrysideAccess

Leisure,Recreation andOpen Space

Finance

Minerals andWaste

TrafficManagement/Amey

Climate changeand sustainabledevelopment

EconomicDevelopment &Regeneration

Legal

INT

ER

NA

L

Highways Agency Local GreenInfrastructureProviders

Health BRCC

EX

TE

RN

AL

5.0 Rapid Response Team

5.1 To supplement the Placemaking Groups, a new “Rapid Response Team” of senior“Place” officers has also been set up to give a “rapid response” and initial steer tomajor investment enquiries received by the Council. That team will have a “standingmeeting” diarised every two weeks and will give a steer to the officer “managing” theinvestment enquiry. .

5.2 The Rapid Response Team comprises;

Gary Alderson (Chair)Director of SustainableCommunities

Trevor SaundersAssistant Director ofPlanning

Ian Brown AssistantDirector of Property andAssets

Liz Wade AssistantDirector of EconomicGrowth, Skills andRegeneration

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6.0 The Placemaking Delivery Board

6.1 The Placemaking Delivery Board plans to meet every two months or as required.The Chairs will be the conduit between each Placemaking group and the DeliveryBoard. The Delivery Board will oversee and will provide a steer to the Chairs of thePlacemaking groups.

Gary Alderson (Chair)Director of SustainableCommunities

Cllr Ken MatthewsExecutive Member forSustainable Communities

Cllr Nigel Young DeputyExecutive Member forSustainable Communities

Trevor SaundersAssistant Director ofPlanning

Liz Wade AssistantDirector of EconomicGrowth, Skills andRegeneration

Ian Brown AssistantDirector of Property andAssets

Rob Parsons Head ofSchool Organisation andCapital Planning

Tony KeaveneyAssistant Director ofHousing Services

6.2 The key ‘business’ of the Placemaking Delivery Board will be to:

Oversee progress of development delivery in accordance with the four DeliveryPlans prepared by each placemaking group;

Oversee and help inform S106 spend by spending officers to help ensure allmoney collected gets spent on time to deliver new local infrastructure for whichcontributions were collected;

Consider update reports regarding key development proposals within eachplacemaking area;

Provide guidance to the chairs of placemaking groups on key issues whererequested to do so;

Consider the implications of development and infrastructure proposals on theCouncil’s own land and property assets and provide guidance on how to deliver‘best value’ for the use of those assets.

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6.3 In addition, it will be the job of the chair of the Delivery Board to undertake thefollowing;

To escalate any issues to CMT which it considers need discussion at that level;

To update and get a ‘sense check’ from other relevant Executive members onany issue discussed where they consider it necessary to get an Executivemember view on that issue before offering a steer to the chair of a placemakinggroup;

To determine when it would be appropriate to invite other relevant Executivemember(s) to the Delivery Board for discussion on a particular issue.

6.4 In order to provide uniformity when reporting to the Delivery Board, a template reporthas been created for use by each placemaking group. The report will also set outissues on which the placemaking chair is seeking guidance from the Delivery Board.

7.0 Alignment with the Council’s Priorities and Campaigns

7.1 A Council that “is good to do Business with”

It is intended that the placemaking groups will incorporate pre-applicationdiscussions on key schemes into their regular business. This is very much alignedwith Central Bedfordshire’s ‘open for business’ agenda and gives developers theopportunity to engage directly with all key areas of technical expertise within theCouncil in one place. Having all of these specialists in one room will give the ‘addedvalue’ that is required to make the pre-application process a constructive andmutually beneficial.

7.2 The aims of the Placemaking approach also fit with the Council’s Key Priority to‘manage growth effectively’ as the primary function of placemaking is to ensure thatdevelopment is delivered is a co-ordinated way.

Contact the LDF TeamBy telephone: 0300 300 4329By email: connie.frost-bryant@centralbedfordshire.gov.ukOn the web: www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Write to LDF Team, Central Bedfordshire Council, Technology House, 239 AmpthillRoad, Bedford, MK45 9BD