Regeneration seminars

Planners and culture leaders are to come together for the first time in a national discussion to help shape stronger communities.

Starting in London on October 1st, Living Places, the coalition of five leading national culture and sports agencies, is bringing together planners and policy makers responsible for sport and culture at a series of seminars in every English region.

The seminars are designed to help these professionals make the best use of the Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit, an essential piece of support, developed by Living Places, to help ensure consistency and best practice in planning across the country.

Roy Clare, Chair of Living Places and Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, said: “These seminars are a great opportunity for planners and culture and sports policy makers to think and act in a joined up way and develop a shared vision for how we build new communities.

“There’s a determination amongst Living Places partners to ensure that when we plan the roads and houses that make communities, we need to make culture and sports provision an essential ingredient too. The events offer us the chance to create a shared strategic sense of what can be achieved.”

Expert analysis

The events have been designed to help officers with lead responsibility for planning and policy development in culture, sport and regeneration:

• Play an increasingly important role in placing culture and sports provision into local and regional strategic plans
• Be consistent in implementing new developments such as standard charging for museums, libraries and the arts across the regions
• Improve their capacity to map and prioritise culture and sports provision to best meet the needs of local people.

The events are being supported by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and will provide planners and policy makers with a mix of expert analysis, detailed case studies of effective culture and sports planning, and in some regions visits to see effective place shaping in action. Planners will also get CPD credits for attending the events.

Sir Peter Hall, President of TCPA, who will be opening the first seminar in London on 1st October, said: “Planning is essential to the development of healthy, happy and strong communities, and planners have been instrumental in helping Living Places develop the toolkit and shape these seminars.

"Stronger collaboration between planners and culture and sports leaders is essential if we are going to plan strong communities for the future, and these events mark an important step in bringing people together.”

While the toolkit is primarily aimed at planning and regeneration officers, cultural, leisure, sports, education and health professionals will also find it useful and are welcome to attend the seminars.

Following the first event in London, the other events will take place across the nine English regions during October and November. To find out about how to book for one of the events please visit http://www.living-places.org.uk/

Notes to Editors

For all media inquiries, please contact Melissa Milner, melissa@dhacommunications.co.uk 020 7793 4035, or Jim Minton, jim@dhacommunications.co.uk 020 7793 4013

For further information about the events contact Leah Whittingham, Living Places Programme Manager, leah.whittingham@mla.gov.uk 020 7273 1410 or Melissa Milner melissa@dhacommunications.co.uk 020 7793 4035

Dates and times of all the events

1st October London

5th October North West - Manchester

14th October Yorkshire and Humber - Dewsbury

16th October West Midlands - Birmingham

21 October South West - Bridgwater

22 October South East - Dartford

29 October North East - Newcastle

3 November South East - Winchester

30 November East of England - Cambridge

East Midlands tbc

Living Places Living Places is a coalition of five leading national culture and sports agencies: Arts Council England; Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE); English Heritage; Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA); Sport England. It is supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

The Living Places Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit (CSPT) is an essential source of information and advice for all practitioners involved in culture and planning. It provides practical guidance to incorporate planning for culture and sport into new and existing developments. You can find it online at www.living-places.org.uk

The Toolkit has been carefully designed to:

• Help planning and culture professionals find information on how to integrate planning for culture and sport into their existing infrastructure
• Develop a greater consistency in how planning authorities assess the need for culture and sport and build this into their plans
• Build and share a body of knowledge about the best approaches to planning for cultural and sporting infrastructure

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