Settlement Capacity & Regional Development Options Study - 1997-1998

Associate Project Sheet

Associate:	Ken Conway
Client:	Chris Blandford Associates / Baker Associates: for the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Planning Forum		Project period:	1997 – 1998
Project:	Settlement Capacity and Regional Development Options		Contract value:	c£50,000

Background

This was a region with a widely varying environmental and socio-economic context, containing industrial cities and growing financial centres as well as national parks and historic built environments. Some of the great nineteenth century urban areas had found new and vibrant economic roles, while others had yet to do so. Employment land allocations in development plans were often based on historic aspirations rather than currently available opportunities for growth and diversification. There were also marked contrasts in outlook and approach between predominantly rural areas containing attractive market towns and both the former mining areas and the larger conurbations.

An integrated, region wide set of planning, economic development, transport and environmental studies was commissioned in order to:

• provide a framework for individual local authorities to make maximum use of available resources
• respond to the stronger regional development institutions being put in place
• create mutually supportive rather than zero sum competitive development strategies
• explore the practical implications of sustainability for such strategies

Services Provided

Initially, development scenarios were constructed as broad brush options, taking into account the likely influences of:

• Established economic trends, analysed at local authority, travel to work area, sub-region and regional levels;
• Apparent growth opportunities, regeneration issues and planning authority aspirations;
• Fundamental socio-economic structures e.g. aged populations;
• Prospective technology changes (notably in transport and communications);
• The state of the natural and built environments; and
• Political and institutional frameworks.

These were then further refined, based on:

• Sustainability criteria;
• Economic development advantages of concentration versus dispersion;
• Pros and cons of reinforcing success versus exploiting under utilised resources;
• Coherence of the different local planning authority area and sectoral changes at a regional scale;
• Availability of employment land in different categories and locations;
• Urban capacity studies;
• Commercial property and housing market indicators; and
• Resource availability and timescales.

Ken Conway’s Role

• SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses of local and regional economies
• Identification of economic trends, growth sectors and locations;
• Investigation of current employment land allocations in plans;
• Liaison with other team members and client representatives dealing with environmental, social and transportation planning issues;
• Definition of alternative development scenarios in response to varying objectives and priorities;
• Presentation of these options to seminars and workshops involving both officers and Members from planning authorities, regional development organisations, the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humberside and other stakeholders; and
• Preparation of relevant reports.

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