(5) Section Five - Implementation & Monitoring

Implementation

5.1 Rochford District Council will be the lead body for the implementation of the Core Strategy. However, the pattern and arrangements for service delivery are changing nationally. Rochford District Council is engaged with the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership, Local Strategic Partnerships and is investigating what will be appropriate Local Area Agreements.

5.2 The Thames Gateway is a national priority for regeneration and growth and is identified in the Government's Sustainable Communities plan as one of the growth areas for new housing in the South East. The vision for Thames Gateway South Essex is focused on the creation of sustainable communities that make the most of the unique characteristics of South Essex. Rochford is recognised as an area for the developing leisure, recreation and tourism activities and in particular is key to the development and expansion of the green grid.

5.3 The Council is part of the Rochford District Local Strategic Partnership. Local Strategic Partnerships were introduced as a result of the Local Government Act 2000 and have a critical role to play in delivering the Community Strategy Action Plan, particularly in relation to coherent service provision and the development of genuinely sustainable communities for the Rochford district.

5.4 A Steering Group is responsible for the development and implementation of the Community Strategy, membership of the Steering Group includes representatives from:

• Rochford District Council
• Rochford and Castle Point Primary Care Trust
• South Essex Partnership Trust
• Essex County Council and the district's Parish and Town Councils
• Business Representatives
• Essex Learning and Skills Council
• Essex Police
• Rayleigh and Rochford District Association of Voluntary Services (RAVS)
• Thames Gateway South Essex
• Faith groups
• Schools

5.5 In preparing the LDF development plan documents it is essential that there is close collaborative working with the LSP to ensure that the spatial aspects of the Community Strategy are implemented to best effect for the district. Therefore, the LSP will be involved at all stages of the preparation of development plan documents.

5.6 A key part of the developing strategy for enabling better public services to be delivered more effectively locally is to provide a new framework for the relationship between central and local government. Local Area Agreements are a new way of working to build a more flexible and responsive relationship between central government and a locality on the priority outcomes that need to be achieved at local level. Achieving this new relationship will require a significant shift in the way central and local government relate to each other and to other local partners.

5.7 Rochford District Council is committed to the Essex Local Area Agreement that is attended to achieve a step change in the delivery of public services in the County and this new agreement will influence the planning strategy and policies in the Local Development Framework.

5.8 It is likely that Local Strategic Partnerships, Local Area Agreements and the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership will influence service provision during the lifetime of the Core Strategy, together with other initiative under development, including the City Regions initiative.

Monitoring

5.9 The Core Strategy sets out the District's strategic proposals for the period to 2021. It is inevitable that issues will emerge whose implications will need to be considered during the plan period. Many of these issues will be of minor concern; however, where significant issues emerge that may affect any of the key objectives or proposals, the Council will assess the implications and consider the need for amendments. These will be handled as per legislation and the consultation procedures laid down in the Council's Statement of Community Involvement.

5.10 In order to keep track of the changes that may occur during the plan period and to assess how successfully the plan is attaining its aims, a number of regular checks or monitoring exercises will take place. The introduction of the 'Plan, Monitor, Manage' regime highlighted the importance of effective monitoring as an integral part of the planning process. At the same time new policy targets (such as for the re-use of previously-developed land), and new policy approaches (for example, the sequential approach) demand that monitoring becomes more sophisticated in the extent and detail of information captured.

5.11 The Council acknowledges the need for local monitoring systems and will implement such a system over the early part of the plan period. Rochford District Council is a member of the Essex Monitoring Group, which was set up and first met in May 2002. This countywide group was formed as a forum for discussions relating to the monitoring process; to promote good practice in plan monitoring; to facilitate the timely provision of accurate and relevant monitoring information and to share and co-ordinate data.

5.12 The Council has a Service Level Agreement with Essex County Council, whereby the latter provides some of the monitoring information required. Other information is likely to be provided by Essex Wildlife Trust, as part of a contract between the Council and the Trust. The majority of monitoring information will be produced in house and will be detailed in the Annual Monitoring Report required under the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

5.13 The Council's Annual Monitoring Report is produced by the end of each calendar year for submission to the Government Office. As data is made available information on all of the relevant core output indicators will be provided. The current core output indicators are defined in Local Development Framework Core Output Indicators.

5.14 The Council will use the information gleaned from this exercise and will feed it back into the Local Development Framework. The Council's draft Local Development Scheme contains a mid-term revision and outlines possible future work. This flexibility will enable local development documents to be updated to take account of changing circumstances.