Infrastructure planning and delivery

• What infrastructure planning is (and isn't)
• About our support for IDP
• IDP pilot project learning reports 
• Steps approach: a practical guide to IDP
• Introducing and developing IDP: support materials
• IDP preparation process resources
• Contact us

What infrastructure planning is (and isn't)

Creating sustainable communities is about providing the necessary supporting ‘infrastructure’ of utility services, transport, schools, open space, community, health and leisure services. These services are provided by a range of organisations, but at present there is little or no integration of that provision meeting neither the needs of existing communities nor those of the future. 

The preparation of an infrastructure delivery plan is essential for local authorities and their partners to fulfill their place shaping role and create sustainable communities. In the autumn of 2008 the Planning Advisory Service ran a series of ten regional seminars on infrastructure planning and delivery (IDP). The key messages that came from those events were that infrastructure planning is:

• a corporate activity - requiring active corporate and local strategic partnership (LSP) input and ownership
• an on-going process - not a one-off activity, by planners, to help achieve a sound development plan document
• not just about road and drains – infrastructure includes physical, social and green infrastructure.
• not just funded by Section 106 and community infrastructure levy (CIL) monies - most infrastructure delivery will be funded from existing spending streams
• about delivery - an infrastructure plan must identify what is being delivered, where, when and by whom. 

Why do it?

IDP is a valuable corporate process. It can help deliver the sustainable community strategy (SCS) and achieve local area agreement (LAA) targets and comprehensive area assessment (CAA) ratings.  It provides a basis for the Homes and Communities Agency's single conversation, and provides core information for LDF/DPD production.

If the plan is done with the involvement of all relevant parties, it will help to:

• direct the right level of growth and housing development in the right place
• target resources to areas of need
• bid for funding from other infrastructure agencies
• achieve efficiencies in service delivery and development planning.

How to do it

IDP is an on-going corporate process. At its heart is an infrastructure schedule or database that lists details of infrastructure investment in the area. The schedule will provide core information for all corporate and partner strategy planning. The schedule is a live database that will grow and develop over time as more partners engage in the process and contribute more infrastructure categories and information. To be effective it needs to be kept up to date.

Planners will benefit from being involved in and promoting an IDP process. It will enable greater engagement with corporate partners and provide access to essential information and direction for their DPD work. Ensuring the schedule contains the information required for DPD preparation is essential.

To help start the IDP process, the infrastructure data being collected to prepare DPDs should be recorded in an IDP template. This should allow the data to be easily managed and shared with partners so they can contribute to and develop it. 

About our support for IDP

The materials on this page make up the IDP support package that you can use to assist your IDP preparation process. The IDP community of practice offers further support. Before you begin using them, it's important to remember that:

• this approach is just one way of approaching inrastructure planning and delivery – it is not a set procedure
• this approach needs to be considered as a whole and not necessarily in a sequential
  way – you don’t have to start at Step 1 – use the approach as appropriate to local
  circumstances and you may chose not to follow all the steps or all parts of the steps
• some steps will already have been completed locally or there will be existing work that can be used
• the ’how to get started’ bullet points are a range of suggested activities not a checklist of prescribed actions
• the provision of resources and examples given are indicative and not meant to provide templates.
  

IDP pilot project learning reports

As more authorities undertake infrastructure planning work  more experience is being gained and lessons learned.  To gather and share this experience and information we are running an IDP project programme. This is currently operating in 14 locations across England and is designed to establish and deliver IDPs in the pilot authorities using the support materials we have made available.  The pilot authorities will be supported by consultants to work their way through the process.

We are sharing their experience and learning via quarterly reports on the PAS website and in the IDP community of practice.

Pilot learning reports (Quarters one and two available)
IDP Community of Practice (registration required)

We will also review and update our support material based on any new learning emerging from the pilot authorities. The pilot locations have been chosen to examine how the 'steps' approach works with other initiatives and leads including:

• Local Strategic Partnerships 
• Total Place pilots 
• City Region pilots 
• Growth areas.

Steps approach: a practical guide to IDP

Steps Approach to infrastructure planning and delivery (32 pages, PDF, 485KB)

Steps approach is the key document in this module. The person leading on IDP preparation for your local authority will need to be fully acquainted with the Steps Approach and its supporting guidance (below). If you are unsure of any area, or encounter problems, you will be able to seek clarification or advice on the Community of Practice (CoP).

Steps approach: supporting guidance (30 pages, PDF, 329KB)

The supporting guidance complements the information and resources contained in the steps approach and should be read in conjunction with it. It offers local authorities and non-project trainers further interpretation of each step, as well as the timescales involved. After the baseline self assessment and project planning sessions the local authority will be able to assess the areas of support they will need in the various steps.

Introducing and developing IDP: support materials

At the heart of IDP is the need for partnership working. This material provides the basis for engaging your partners in the process of IDP. Ideally, it would be a day-long event with all the relevant partners present. The goal is to establish their involvement and respective contributions to the process. The material can be adapted to take account of your ‘audience’, as well as the numbers and types of services attending.

Once the work is underway the early foundations should be established, like clarity of vision and evidence gathered. At this stage a second partner group meeting should take place to start plan preparation. Again, this meeting should involve all partners contributing to the process.

• Second partner group meeting presentation and notes (Powerpoint, 376KB) 

IDP preparation process resources

These tools – a range of templates and sources of information – can be adapted to best suit your needs. If you have developed your own tools, or improved upon these, you can share them with colleagues in the Community of Practice.  

• Engaging the local strategic partnership with IDP: some practical approaches
• Infrastructure categories (Word, 119KB)
• Infrastructure delivery statement: what might it contain?
• Infrastructure planning delivery schedule template (Word, 216KB)
• Public sector capital funding sources (PDF, 58KB)
• Public service delivery requirements template (Word, 32KB)
• Strategic sites infrastructure delivery plan template (Word, 36KB)

Contact us

The PAS lead for infrastructure planning is Jackie Leask. Email jackie.leask@idea.gov.uk or phone 079 1787 0740.