Core Strategy Preferred Options (Revised October 2008)

The table within CLT Appendix 1 should be amended as follows,
o the Standard Charge should be applied to employment development in the case of Early Years and Childcare.
o the words 'and expansion' should be added to the infrastructure required for both 'Primary education, early years and childcare facilities general improvements' and 'Secondary Education General Improvements'.
o For 'Secondary Education General Improvements [and expansion]', the 'Planning Obligations to be used' reference should read 'Yes' but the 'Other Issues/Comment' reference is un-necessary.
o 'Expansion and improvement of access to King Edmund School' should be deleted and be replaced by 'Expansion of King Edmund School including new access'.
o 'Expansion of Fitzwimarc and Sweyne Park Schools' is unnecessary provided the two amends above are made to 'Secondary Education General Improvements [and expansion]'.

The inclusion in the Core Strategy of a section considering Implementation, Delivery and Monitoring is welcomed and fully supported.

The tabulation of Implementation, Delivery and Monitoring matters should be expanded. In particular, the implementation and delivery material should provide a fuller description of schemes and projects, who will deliver them, funding requirements and/or sources, their priority and required timing, links with other projects and strategies, risk of non-achievement and contingency importance. Of particular importance will be highlighting of those schemes and projects that are critical to achievement of the policies and proposals in the plan. Similarly, the monitoring material should be expanded to include specific indicators and targets for assessing progress in realisation of the Strategy.

The proposed monitoring of Preferred Option CP1 by reference to the proportion of appeals dismissed, where refusal is on the basis of character of place is questioned. It is unclear what this approach would measure. Would a high proportion of such dismissed appeals indicate that policies are supported and therefore successful? Or, would a low proportion of dismissed appeals show increased design quality of schemes and that policies were therefore successful? A better approach would be to base evaluation and monitoring of the policy on the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment's (CABE) 20 Building for Life principles, particularly as Government has endorsed these principles and is urging local authorities to use them to assess design quality. It is suggested that the monitoring arrangements for Preferred Option CP1 be revised to incorporate the following text, 'The success of the implementation of this policy will be monitored by assessing schemes, or an appropriate sample of schemes, against the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment's (CABE) Building for Life principles.'

The proposed monitoring in respect of Preferred Option CLT2 should be amended by addition of the words 'and Early Years & Childcare' to the Preferred Option title and description of implementation and delivery and by addition of reference to the 'Childcare Sufficiency Assessment' to the description of monitoring arrangements.

Consideration should be given to revising the scale of the Key Diagram because some of the illustrated features are too small to easily and readily identify. Further the Key Diagram should be diagrammatic and not shown on a map base.