The culture of development management

The spatial planning system exists to deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes. It requires planners to collaborate with the stakeholders and agencies that help to shape local areas and deliver local services. 

Planning Policy Statement 1 sets out a vision for spatial planning to be a positive and proactive process. It is a single system that operates in the public interest through a combination of plan preparation and control over the development and use of land.

Development management is the term that has been coined to include the range of activities and interactions that together transform the 'control of development and the use of land' into a more positive and proactive process that:

• fits better with the ethos of spatial planning and
• better supports local authorities in their role as place shapers.

Development management uses the familiar apparatus of planning applications and planning enforcement. It uses these not just to control the effects of unrestricted development, but as a proactive tool for managing development opportunities. This is done to optimise the benefits for the community of inward investment in development.

• Culture change
• The work done to date
• A development management way of thinking
• What’s in it for the local authority?
• The Government framework for development management
• Implementing the elements of development management
• Case Studies

Culture change

To achieve a transformation into a positive and proactive role for planning requires a fundamental change in the culture of planning from reactive control to management of opportunities. That is far from saying that development management should promote development regardless of its quality.

The objective of development management is to facilitate the creation of sustainable developments. It should enable the development of places and buildings that will lead to improvements in the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of the area. 

A development management approach will alter the way in which both officers and elected members work within the planning applications system. It will also change how they work with developers, the community, other statutory bodies and infrastructure providers. Ways of working need to reflect a desire to make planning consideration a tool for achieving better outcomes rather than a test of adequacy. To manage delivery of sustainable development, both officers and members need to take a more active role during the shaping of plans.

The work done to date

PAS has been working with the Planning Officers Society for the past two years to better define the characteristics of a good development management approach. As part of this we have worked closely with a number of local authorities. Some of these have been part of the POS development management pilot project and others we have met in discussions at the national series of seminars run by PAS in 2007 and 2008. 

We have found that many local planning authorities have already started along a path of making their service more positive and proactive. These councils have explored a range of responses and, without exception, they have reported that the approach has yielded better outcomes in terms of the quality of the developments and optimised benefits for the community from that development investment.

The work with our colleagues in local government brought us to the point where we felt that there was a general understanding that development management first and foremost represented a new way of thinking about the way we deal with development proposals – a new culture.  The characteristics of this new way of thinking are set out below and have been used to inform and guide the development of the Government’s draft policies on development management. The draft policies themselves translate these ways of thinking into behaviors and actions which local authorities should use to shape their planning services

A development management way of thinking

Positive Planning

The ‘mission’ of development management is to facilitate the delivery of the place shaping vision for the community as set out in the development plan and the sustainable community strategy. Planners need to be demonstrably part of the place shaping team – not just by acting as gatekeeper to prevent the worse forms of development, but working positively towards the achievement of high quality developments. These developments will satisfy the service strategy needs of local public service providers and will also contribute to achieving the needs of the local community identified through the local vision. Success in this is critically dependant on planners understanding the corporate priorities of the council in regard to capital investment in buildings and infrastructure and seeing themselves as part of that work.

Spatial planning is much more about vision, prioritization and direction against a broader palette of needs and considerations than land use planning. A development management approach will require a more thoughtful assessment of evidence to assess what the outcomes and impacts of a development will be especially when considering larger schemes. A development management way of thinking will lead planners to commit more effort to influencing and shaping the significant developments in their area so that these are capable of delivering the best outcomes. Some of the frustration with core strategy policies that we have heard from development control planners is to do with the need to move from the culture of applying criteria based policies to judging planning proposals through outcome focused ways of thinking.

Maximizing the benefits arising from new development across a wide range of local community will be an important route to showing the worth of planning.

Partnership working

Development management will also benefit from collaborative working relationships with partners both within and outside the council. Working in partnership will also involve working with developers on the delivery of projects that are important to achieving the strategic vision.

Collaboration can occur on a range of levels from strategic leadership by senior officers and members to project working by case officers. It can include information and evidence sharing and setting up and using processes that encourage opportunities for comment on and engagement in the development management process.

Appropriately managed engagement with the community, applicants, statutory consultees and elected members should provide transparency and make successfully delivering the community vision more likely.

Better partnership working will:

• support the role of planning in place shaping
• ensure that development is supported by appropriate infrastructure
• input essential specialist skills and knowledge
• maximize the chances of successful delivery.

Problem solving

Proposals that are judged likely to make a positive contribution to the council’s vision for the area may nonetheless present problems in terms of adverse impacts on matters of local importance. Planners need to demonstrate a problem solving approach when discussing such schemes. They need to be prepared to offer suggestions that mitigate these impacts or broker the engagement of experts from other agencies rather than leave this to the developer to solve alone.

Problem solving may also involve open consideration of alternative approaches that contribute to improved viability of a desirable development.

It is equally clear that a positive approach also encompasses the need to be direct and clear with advice when a proposal is clearly contrary to the spatial vision. This avoids wasting resources on fruitless proposals.

Beyond the statutory process

Development Management activity extends beyond the scrutiny and determination of planning applications to include input into the scoping of strategic development proposals and pre-application shaping of developments to promote desired outcomes.  It also needs to be actively involved in ensuring the delivery of proposals and evaluating the outcomes. Because it’s a longer and more engaged process, development management thinking will also encourage managers to think about where they allocate skilled planning resources. The approach will encourage innovation and change in how more minor developments are dealt with.

Customer Focus

The ‘one size fits all’ process is not appropriate. Development management should ensure that processes are only as complex as they really need to be. The processes should generally be appropriate to the impact that a development is likely to have on the community as a whole.

Development management thinking encourages effectiveness, efficiency, transparency and predictability. Processes need to be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are good value – both for the customer and for the local authority. A development management approach can be applied to smaller as well as larger proposals if these principles are borne in mind.

What’s in it for the local authority?

It’s important that local authorities understand better the scope offered by a development management approach. This differs fundamentally from the development control approach that they have grown accustomed to.

Local planning services need to develop strategies for change that will help them demonstrate their value to the local authority.  Development management should:

• translate the vision and the strategies of the spatial plan into quality sustainable developments on the ground.
• facilitate private investment and co-ordinate the delivery of public sector investment in capital works and revenue funded services to achieve good value for the community
• create a positive framework for the implementation of action on climate change, social inclusion, healthy communities, economic growth and other national 'big picture' imperatives, 
• protect quality environments and ensure that in new development any adverse impacts are identified and mitigated,
• use a problem solving approach in order to influence planning proposals to achieve better quality places and better outcomes for the community.

The structure, processes and operation of a local planning authority will all contribute to its ability to fulfill this role.

The Government framework for development management

The Government accepted the recommendation of the Killian Pretty review of the end to end processing of planning applications in 2008 that the Government should publish policy in relation to development management as a means of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the planning system.

Consultation documents and publication schedule

The Government has taken a keen interest in the sector led work on development management and has integrated this approach into a draft policy statement. ‘Development Management: Proactive planning from pre-application to delivery’ was published in December 2009. It sets out the Government’s overarching objectives and policies for development management and includes detailed policies for pre-applications engagement and determination of planning proposals. The deadline for comments is March 19th 2010.

Development management: proactive planning from pre-application to delivery – on the CLG website

There are a further two consultation documents available that relate to development management:

Improving the use and discharge of planning conditions – on the CLG website

Improving engagement by statutory and non-statutory consultees – on the CLG website

The period for consultation on these also ends on 19th March 2010.

It is intended that the draft PPS on development management will fit within the context of PPS1 and alongside PPS12and other national planning policy statements. The new development management policy will be supplemented by a series of further policy statements (produced over a period of time) which will deal with detailed aspects of development management activity. These will fall generally within eight activity themes:

• pre-application
• application
• consultation
• determination
• appeals
• delivery
• monitoring
• special consent regimes

Part five of “Development Management: proactive planning from pre-application to delivery’ gives an update on progress made towards delivering the proposed detailed policy annexes to the new Planning Policy Statement on development management.

Draft development management policies

The draft policy statement defines development management as:
“… a positive and proactive approach to shaping, considering, determining and delivering development proposals. It is led by the local planning authority (LPA), working closely with those proposing developments and other stakeholders. It is undertaken in the spirit of partnership and inclusiveness, and supports the delivery of key priorities and outcomes. It is undertaken in the spirit of partnership and inclusiveness, and supports the delivery of key priorities and outcomes”

The Government’s consultation draft of the development management policy identifies seven key elements of a development management service:

1. a positive and proactive approach to place shaping
2. puts planning policy into action
3. front loading
4. takes a proportionate approach
5. effective engagement
6. proactive delivery
7. monitoring and review of development management outcomes

The policies derive from the work done within the sector to define the characteristic ways of thinking for development management. The draft policy sets what is described as “strategic direction on how development management services should be framed for success”.  In effect these are a series of actions and outputs that allow for flexibility so that local authorities are free to adopt approaches that fit their circumstances, objectives and available resources.

Implementing the elements of development management

1.  A positive and proactive approach to place shaping

The Government is keen to encourage local authorities to use development management as an opportunity to broker developments that will underpin the aspirations of the SCS and LDF core strategy.  This is seen as an important mechanism that will help to satisfy the local area agreement targets and show that the integrated service delivery needed for comprehensive area assessment is achievable. Planning is expected to evolve an active role in facilitating collaborative working over developments.

The draft PPS highlights a requirement for improving communications.  The policies set out a clear new responsibility for planning by making communication and co-ordination an overt development management task. In looking at how to implement this, local authorities could consider developing service strategies that will allow them to:

• explain to developers what the council’s priorities are for the area, and how development (private and public) proposals can contribute to achieving them through an up to date programme.
• make sure that council and LSP partner developments take proper account of the LDF vision and policies wherever possible, rather than developing service strategies that take little account of local planning constraints or national planning policies.
• encourage co-ordination of delivery for forthcoming developments so that duplication and wasted effort is avoided as well as setting up opportunities for part private, part public investment in such a way that the best outcomes can be achieved for the best value.
• make sure that the functional linkages between plan writing and plan delivery through development management are not hampered by organizational structure. 

Potential barriers such as the availability of resources and skills between the two parts of the spatial planning system will hamper the ability to make best use of the planning system for place shaping.

2. Putting planning policy into action

The PPS and its annex on determination are proposed to replace the ‘General Principles’ annex to PPS1. These provide guidance on matters to be considered in determining planning applications and appeals within the spatial planning context. The legislative provisions of s38(6) have not changed. Therefore, the starting point for decision-making is still the development plan followed by other material considerations.

The draft guidance links matters which can be considered in the determination of planning proposals more closely to the community’s vision for the area (as expressed through the sustainable community strategy and other relevant strategies). It also explains the relevance of national planning policies when making decisions in development management.

In keeping with the outcome based focus of a development management approach, the determination policies direct local planning authorities away from testing development proposals against a list of fixed criteria based policies. Instead they are directed towards an assessment of the way in which a proposed development will contribute to desirable outcomes and any impacts that are likely to arise. This policy is likely to have a marked impact on the future form of policies in development management DPDs. There will be an increased emphasis on explaining an acceptable range of impacts alongside desired outcomes.

3. Front loading

The draft guidance places a clear responsibility on the local authority to provide arrangements for pre-application engagement, although the manner of provision is up to the authority. In many local authorities this has been in place for the past few years, and therefore the policy is confirming such existing good practice. 
The guidance sets out clear expectations about what constitutes effective pre-application engagement, thereby establishing a national framework that authorities should meet. It establishes an expectation that all local authorities will clearly set out the terms and arrangements for pre-application engagement in their area. 

Many authorities already have published a charter or service offer document setting out this information, and this is clearly the approach that the government wishes others to follow.

It also makes it clear that local planning authorities should take steps to encourage developers to use of this service.  Further commentary on pre-application is included in the web site section on front loading.

Front loading commentary

4. Taking a proportionate approach

The guidance establishes several principles in relation to the way in which authorities should adapt their discretionary processes to satisfy a development management approach. The reasons for this approach are three fold.

1. To manage limited resources so that greatest attention can be given to the most important schemes.  This includes resources of officers and members and takes into account delegation agreements and committee arrangements.
2. To focus attention on the real costs of the planning service - both for the applicant and the local authority.
3. To encourage an ongoing review and improvement of customer service and financial savings.

These are a strong signal from the Government that, for planning to achieve its role in regard to place shaping, local planning authorities will need to take major decisions in relation to the reallocation of resources used in considering planning applications. It follows the direction of thought which has driven recent changes to permitted development where more minor forms of development are taken out of the planning applications system along with forms of development that the Government is keen to support (e.g. the renewable energy proposals).

The policy will require local authorities to be more innovative and open to re-evaluation of current practices in the light of financial circumstances, growth pressures and local priorities. It also plays into the localism agenda encouraging local authorities to make decisions about planning processes that reflect local priorities.

5. Effective Engagement

The government is committed to ensuring that development management includes strategies for effective engagement in considering development proposals. In particular the draft PPS and annexes encourage elected members to take part in discussions on development at all relevant stages. They require local authorities to set out clearly their policies and processes in regard to community engagement. The statement of community involvement will be important in setting this out, but many local authorities have also set out clear protocols for the engagement of members within development management.  Further discussion of the ways in which authorities have responded to this are included in the section on the role of members in these web pages.

The role of members

6. Proactive delivery

The draft development management policies focus on two areas in which local planning authorities should demonstrate a more proactive approach in order to ensure the delivery of the important place shaping developments envisaged in the strategic visions.

To reduce the risk of slowing down delivery of approved development, local authorities will need to take a managed approach to the post application phase. This does not appear to be an area where many local authorities have yet developed a sophisticated development management process, although there is some good practice. The policy seeks a more cautious or restrained approach to the use of conditions, particularly pre-commencement conditions in line with the six existing tests. 

As part of a suite of development management measures including enhanced engagement during the pre-application phase, local authorities and developers will have greater opportunity to iron out issues prior to the determination of an application, reducing the need for onerous lists of conditions.

The consultation document addresses the issue of conditions that require the completion of a section 106 agreement. Unusually two options are presented for consideration during the consultation. This is an acknowledgement by the Government that the completion of section 106 agreements prior to the grant of planning permission can present a serious barrier to the implementation of some large comprehensive development schemes where there is a multiplicity of land ownership.

To reduce uncertainty at the early stages of scheme development as well as to unblock barriers at delivery, the policy points planners towards the wide range of existing discretionary powers and tools. Crossing over the skills of both plan making and development management planners can help to develop strong, deliverable planning guidance, improving certainty for investors and developers and identifying infrastructure needs. Tools for this include masterplans, development briefs and site specific DPDs.  Use of these in a development management context is discussed further in the detailed section on front loading. Use of compulsory purchase powers may where appropriate also help in the delivery of some sites where land assembly is a problem.

Front loading

7. Monitoring and review of outcomes

The draft policy makes an overt link between development management and preparation of the annual monitoring report (AMR). Recent research into the quality of AMRs  indicates a wide range of approaches as well as some variable quality in terms of the data, conclusions and follow-up action. Two of the criticisms leveled in the studies have been a lack of joint monitoring between AMRs and national indicators and a lack of integration between the AMR and the evidence bases for DPDs and sustainability appraisal.

Integration of the evaluation of completed developments with the AMR will provide scope for better monitoring and testing of DPD policies as well as testing the effectiveness of development management practice. A formal, well set up evaluation system gives an opportunity to assess the way schemes work for the communities in which the development is located.  It also provides an opportunity to embed partnership working that supporting scheme delivery to collectively evaluate the finished development against a wider range of indicators. This approach will strengthen the integration of the AMR findings with the national indicators and local area agreement targets. It also provides a regular opportunity to test out:

• how effective policies are in achieving the outcomes required, 
• the strength of policies in terms of how they can be implemented,
• the processes used in development management e.g. for community engagement on development proposals.

We are aware of some good practice in relation to this work – for example, in Hackney. We are also intending to commence a supported programme working with pilot local authorities. The objective for this work will be to develop some further examples of effective practice in preparing annual monitoring reports to show the work of planning in the place-making world.

Case Studies

We have collected a number of case study examples that illustrate how each of the key elements of a development management approach are demonstrated in relation to real development proposals. The developments that result from this positive approach are yielding better outcomes for the communities.  As the approach is embedded and the culture change becomes a reality, those involved are developing an increased understanding of the potential for positive planning.

• Islington: positive place shaping
• Allerdale: a proactive approach to delivering development
• Barking: spatial plans in action
• Bracknell Forest: front-loading through planning performance agreements
• Lincoln City: a proactive approach to development opportunities
• Cornwall: proportionality through local development orders
• Redcar and Cleveland: member engagement pre-application
• Hackney: monitoring outcomes

We welcome further examples as practice develops.