Planning Toolkit launched

Government backed guidance has been launched today (Tuesday 31 March) to help regeneration professionals use culture and sport as catalysts for renewal.  The Culture, Sport and Planning Toolkit (CSPT), available at www.living-places.org.uk, sets out a simple five stage process to build culture and sport into places.  It includes a wealth of information, best practice case studies and planning tools.  Users can learn from the experience of others and base their own development plans on the processes and principles that have succeeded elsewhere.

Roy Clare, CBE, Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and Chair of the Living Places Partnership behind the toolkit, said:

“Built environment professionals and people working in culture and sport want the same thing; healthy, prosperous, vibrant places where people trust their neighbours and feel proud of their neighbourhood.  But for too long, culture, sport and planning have spoken different languages.  This toolkit is an online translator to break down historic barriers.  It will help culture, sport and planning work more closely together to build better places for the future.” 

Gideon Amos, OBE, Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association, which built the toolkit, said:

“This toolkit will help build culture and sport into the planning process from the start, so that new places and renewed places will have the infrastructure they need.  By using the simple five step guide in the toolkit, planners, developers and regeneration professionals will be able to build the benefits of culture and sport into their plans in the right way and at the right time.” 

Max Steinberg, Chief Executive, Elevate said
“The toolkit will bring together existing work in a way that is of practical use to planners and regeneration officers, signpost us to funding and other support, and continue to advocate for culture's contribution to regeneration”.

There is widespread acceptance that cultural and sporting facilities are important in new communities and regenerated areas.  Aside from their intrinsic value they create a sense of place, contribute to the economy and bring people together around shared interests.  But while sport has certain powers in the planning system, there is no clear statutory role for culture.  Consequently, people working on the built environment and people working in cultural agencies are operating in separate spheres.

The toolkit brings these two professional communities together.  It will help built environment professionals find new ways to deliver sustainable communities through culture and gather the evidence they need to recommend culture-led plans for regeneration.  It will also help local government cultural officers navigate the planning system, so that they can make the case for museums, libraries, arts and sports facilities in the right way and at the right time.

- ENDS -

For more information about Living Places and the Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit, visit www.living-places.org.uk .

Notes to editors:

Five steps to better places through culture and sport: a summary

Step 1:  Leadership and co-ordination

• Champion: Appoint a local champion who will promote culture and sport, ensuring their place within regeneration and sustainable community plans
• Co-ordinator: Give clear responsibilities for cultural development to the right staff with the right skills.
• Deliverer: Make sure the spatial planning process supports the development of cultural and sporting infrastructure, maximising existing assets and setting a clear vision for new facilities.

Step 2: Visioning

• Engage and involve local communities: Use an area’s greatest asset – its people. Their local knowledge and perspective will help guide local decision-making and ensure fit for purpose facilities that will be used for the long term.
• Define a shared vision for culture and sport: This vision should feed into the local sustainable Community Strategy Process.

Step 3: Needs and provision assessment

• Build a local evidence base: Find out exactly the type of sports and cultural provision the area needs and set clear quantity and quality benchmarks to deliver the required infrastructure.

Step 4: Delivery

• Take a life cycle perspective: Have a good look at the costs and benefits of a project throughout its lifespan, from the day it is initiated to project completion.
• Identify funding sources and delivery arrangements: Think about ways local authority resources can lever in funding from elsewhere and maximise funding impact.
• Set priorities for delivery: Put together a timetable of delivery for culture and sport programmes including revenue raising and capital projects.
• Assess viability and risks: Identify potential pitfalls and what measures can be taken to guard against them.

Step 5: Monitoring and review

• Measure progress and success: Annual monitoring and review should be transparent and inclusive.

To help people follow the five step process, the toolkit also provides the following:
• guidance - on engaging with the planning process to successfully plan for and deliver culture and sport infrastructure
• a library -  of information and resources, existing data sources, toolkits, guidance
• case studies - from around the regions, which illustrate culture and sport in action, with examples of standard charging methods used by some local authorities
• policy updates - to demonstrate the ways in which culture and sport can help achieve wider regional and cultural visions
The organisations behind the toolkit

The toolkit has been developed by the Department for Culture Media and Sport; the Department of Communities and Local Government; the Homes and Communities Agency; Living East; Arts Council England; Museums, Libraries, and Archives Partnership; CABE; English Heritage; Sport England; Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership; Northamptonshire County Council; Culture East Midlands; Culture West Midlands and Culture South East.

The development of the CSPT and the associated training and dissemination programme is funded by HM Treasury’s Invest to Save Inclusive Communities budget.

The work to develop the toolkit has been carried out by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA).

What they say about the toolkit

“This is a ground breaking toolkit that will be invaluable to all those planning the provision of art, sport and cultural facilities in their local communities.” 

Kevin Lavery, Chief Executive, Cornwall Council

“Cultural agencies and organisations provide an invaluable service to communities throughout the country, but it is often all too easy for these groups to be overlooked in the planning process. The CSPT will finally address this problem with a single source of clear, coherent information on how planners can involve culture in the built environment.” 

Simon Eden, CEO Winchester Council