PAS Peers

‘train the trainer’ day

October 24th 2017 www.local.gov.uk/pas

Stephen Barker, Richard Crawley &

Georgina Nixon

• Fire

• Phones

• End @ 16:30

• Feedback forms

Welcome

Purpose of today

Richard Crawley (PAS Programme Manager), at

PAS Conference March 2017:

“Peers are our USP. That doesn’t mean we’re good

enough at looking after them. We don’t always get

this right”.

Today is part of our programme of keeping our most

useful resource informed, engaged and refreshed

Purpose of today

We want you to want to work with us:

We’ve asked your peers to help us explain…

• The variety of PAS assignments you can get

involved in

• The personal benefits of being involved

• The opportunities… and challenges

• How PAS supports you

• How to sign up and get involved

How we are going to do itAgenda

– this morning

• PAS overview: what we do, how we do it, the role of

peers

• Planning Peer Challenges

• Committee reviews

– this afternoon

• Peer Mentoring

• Councillor Training

• Planning update

• Peer Opportunities

Session 1

PAS Work Programme

PAS update

• Funding

– To March 2019

• Small team

– Head of PAS: Anna Rose,

– Martin Hutchings, Richard, Steve, Georgina

• Work split into two parts

– 90% grant-funded for DCLG

– 10% commercial for councils who pay

What we do - our programme

Our grant-funded work this year

– Plans: SOCG, impact of OAN, joint planning

– DM: performance (speed & quality)

• Speed: 2 year assessment period (Oct 15 to Sept 17)

– Designation:

» Non-majors anything less that 70%

» Majors anything less than 60%

• NEW! Quality (Appeals): 2 year asses. Period (Apr ‘15 to

Mar ‘17) - 9 month lag for appeals to be heard

– Designation: more than 10% for majors or non majors

– Calculate: appeals lost/total decisions made

– Delivery: action plan + encouragement

• indicative delivery test published Nov ‘17

How we work

• PAS team – relationships with councils

• Grant funded work – more recently ‘poor’

performers, old/no plans, HWP pilots (e.g.

SOCG, delivery)

• ‘Offers’ of support

• Commercial - by request of a local authority

People

• *not* consultants; peers

• real world; understand the day-to-day

• experienced; been there before

Process & outcome

• VFM; focus on what matters to councils

• right questions, not just right answers

• people first, then process

• practical; focus on making something happen

• tailored; right tools/right job

• useful concise, focused reports

PAS ‘general principles’

• Experience

• Current ‘in the job’ knowledge

• Credibility

• Permission

• Critical friend / mentor

• Not much new under the sun… but your ‘day-

to-day’ can transform other places

… but we appreciate you are all busy people…

What peers bring to the table

• Political match

• Skills & experience match

• LGA political group offices make the request

to the peers (what and when)

• PAS review possible matches

• Potential peers offered to host authority

• Final selection made

How councillor peers are selected

Session 2

Planning Peer Challenge

Introduction: Planning Peer Challenge

• Intensive

• 3 days consecutively on-site

• Team: review manager, lead officer peer.

Officer peer, member peer

• Interviews, process reviews, stats analysis

• Final day presentation

• Report

Peer Challenge ‘Panel’

Cllr Dale Birch (Bracknell Forest)

Cllr Paul Crossley (Bath & NE Somerset)

Steve Barker (PAS) Review Manager

Richard “Dimbleby” Crawley

Tea/Coffee 15 mins

Session 3

Committee Review

Planning Committees

• Running a good planning committee is a

challenge

• The most visible decision making functions of

the council – it is a “shop window” to the

authority

• Making the most important decisions for an

area … for now and the future of the area

• Making the hardest decisions

• Resource hungry in a time of reduced

resources!

PAS 10 Planning

Committee

Essentials…….

1. TRUST

- code of conduct; predisposition/pre determination

2. KNOWLEDGEABLE MEMBERS

3. PLANNING COMMITTEE SIZE

4. DELEGATION & CALL IN

5. DECISION MAKING RULES

- policy; not a ward member, material considerations

6. GOOD CHAIR

- engagement; brief questioning; no repetition, Cttee support

7. PUBLIC ACCESS

- welcoming, audible, visible, labels, decision procedure

8. QUALITY OFFICER REPORTS

- material, clear, concise, plain English

9. INVOLVE MEMBERS EARLY

10. PLANNING COMMITTEE TO OWN ITS ROLE & PERFORMANCE

Introduction: Committee Reviews

• Officer and Member peer

• Review materials and process

• Observe at least one (sometimes two)

planning committee

• Interview members and officers

• Interview a regular committee user

• 3-4 day assignments spread over 1/2 months

• Short report drafted by the officer peer

Committee review

• Cllr Heather Kidd (Shropshire): councillor peer on Committee Review

• Cllr Julia Baker-Smith (Isle of White): recipient of a Committee Review

Lunch 45 mins

Session 4

Mentoring – Steve Barker

Mentoring• One-to-one mentoring

• Building confidence, learning through

sharing experience

• Matched through LGA political group

offices

• Often delivered post peer challenge

• planning committee chairs,

• new portfolio holders,

• policy committee leads

Session 5

Councillor Training

Steve Barker

Councillor TrainingGeneral Councillor training:

• Planning Reform

• New councillors: intro to planning

• Local plan production

Planning Committee Training:• Making defensible decisions

• Decision making & probity

• Developer contributions: CIL, S106

• Pre application discussions

• Design training

• New committee members: Intro to planning

Half day/evening sessions, delivered with a planning

trainer (usually a PAS person)

Councillor Training

• Cllr Linda Robinson (Wychavon)

• Cllr Mike Cosgrove (Swale)

Tea/Coffee 15 mins

Session 6

Planning Updates:

What is going on?

What is going on ?

Richard Crawley

24 October 2017 www.local.gov.uk/pas

Introduction

1. Overview

2. Local Housing Need

3. Statement of common ground

4. Other bits & bobs

5. Next up

Key measures include:

• Brownfield registers and permission

in principle (by December 2017)

• Extension of performance regime to

non-major development

• Allowing some housing as part of a

nationally significant infrastructure

project

• Compulsory purchase reforms

(programme of implementation

underway)

Key measures include:

• Requirement for authorities to

maintain policies for key strategic

priorities

• Strengthening and streamlining

neighbourhood planning

• Improving the use of planning

conditions to support the faster

build-out of permissions

• Further compulsory purchase reform

(includes making the calculation of

compensation clearer and fairer)

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 The Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017

February 2017 : Housing White Paper

• Refines some elements of the HWP

– Local housing need

– Statement of common ground

– Plan Viability

– Capacity (fees)

• Lots of plates spinning

Now …

Local Housing Need

• A standardised method

• Based on public data

– House prices

– Household forecast

• Rather than lots of expensive and contentious

messing about

– The majority of officers think it a step forward

Current approach is not working effectivelyCan create significant delays in plan preparation

37

Step 1: assess housing

need

Based on population growth,

house prices, employment

growth and other factors.

Step 2: assess land

availability

Decide how much of the need

can be delivered, accounting

for constraints like Green Belt

Product:

‘Objectively

Assessed Need’ –

how many homes

are needed

Product: Local

Plan target – how

many homes can

actually be

delivered

Local Plan Expert Group report highlighted a number of problems with the current approach for

preparing Strategic Housing Market Assessment.

The result - a complex and time-consuming process which lacks transparency:

• Reliance on consultants to undertake this work, many of whom use complex and differing

methods. This costs time to prepare (at least 6 months) and money (at least £50K per

assessment) and creates inconsistent approaches;

• Local authorities, developers and local communities frequently engage in protracted debates over

the proposed method, attempting to influence the final figure up or down. Risk of further

consultation, with added cost and delay.

Local Housing Need - issues

• Market signals = reinforce regional difference?

• Will it still add up to 277k when capacity

constraints applied ?

– Hint: no, it won’t

• What does a stronger emphasis on meeting

requirements amount to ?

• Reopen debate about growth & ambition?

Statement of common ground

• A collective document

• Maintained across a HMA

• All parties sign up

– Maybe there is a blank box ?

SOCG - issues

• The principle of de-risking the Duty is sound

• Feels a bit of a faff

– Updated at each stage, by all partners

• How long will it take to flush out the “naughty”

councils ?

– If this is the problem SOCG attempts to solve

• This all starts quite soon

• Do relationships need this much honesty ?

Other

bits &

bobs

Other bits & bobs

• Delivery test

• Market diversification

• Requirements on developers

– Eg build-out rates

• Land supply position ?

• New requirement to make a plan

– Will Counties be asked to make a district’s plan?

Council existing proposed method ? diff *** delivery as % proposedpass ONS

Aylesbury Vale 965 1,499 ONS + 40% 534 1,200 80% fail+

Barking & Dagenham 1264 2,089 ONS 825 657 31% fail+

Bath & North East Somerset 720 626 ONS 94- 663 106% pass

Bracknell Forest 635 670 ONS 35 343 51% fail+

Brighton & Hove 1506 924 plan target + 40% 582- 570 62% fail+

Cambridge 700 583 ONS + 40% 117- 967 166% pass

Cheltenham 450 - 539 534 ONS 29 367 69% fail+

Colchester 920 1,095 ONS 175 793 72% fail+

Croydon 2440 1,414 plan target + 40% 1,026- 1,620 115% pass

Eastleigh 630 715 ONS 85 343 48% fail+

Gloucester 718 657 ONS 61- 503 77% fail+

Isle of Wight 525 641 ONS 116 413 64% fail+

Leicester 1230 - 1330 1,626 ONS 346 1,140 70% fail+

Liverpool 1480 1,682 ONS 202 1,510 90% fail

South Lakeland 290 211 ONS 79- 320 152% pass

South Oxfordshire 725 - 825 617 ONS (should be 594?) 158- 570 92% fail

Southwark 1472 - 1824 3,089 ONS 1,441 1,390 45% fail+

Stockport 1011 1,078 ONS 67 373 35% fail+

Swale 776 1,054 ONS 278 500 47% fail+

Telford and Wrekin 497 555 ONS 58 1,057 190% pass

Warwick 600 623 ONS 23 490 79% fail+

Wychavon 415 509 ONS 94 863 170% pass

Next up

• Budget

– Housebuilding ? By councils ? Or by Govt ?

– CIL ?

• NPPF “early 2018”

– Doesn’t require parliamentary time

• Social Housing Green Paper

Questions?

Email pas@local.gov.uk

Web www.local.gov.uk/pas

Phone 020 7664 3000

Twitter @Pas_Team

Session 7

Opportunities/What’s next?

Committee Reviews

• Designation ‘risk’ monitored by PAS

• Support work opportunities arise each quarter

• Speed 10-15 councils per year engage with

our DM support offer.

• Quality – who knows? Currently 15-20 councils

on our ‘radar’ – 3 committee reviews already

booked

• …also good councils use them as health checks

MentoringPlanning Committee Chairs

Local plan leadership

- particularly around joint plans

Councillor TrainingNew committee members post elections

Post NPPF changes

Planning Peer Challenges

• We deliver between 3 and 5 per year

• 1 delivered this year

• 3 in the pipeline – are you available in

January/February?! – London: Lab, South East: Con, Midlands: Con, ..

• We are targeting some council through at ‘risk

register’!!

Hot off the press… a risk register of

councils

Three components

1. Do councils have an up-to-date plan?

2. Are they delivering housing?

3. Are they making good, prompt decisions?

Combined in a matrix

• Early days

• Needs testing

• More than one issue

• Peer challenge

Watch this space…

So, do you want to be a peer ?

• Easy, wait for the blank week in your diary

• Er…

Sign up (& feedback)

• Please complete the feedback forms – we

really do use them

• Contains a section for you to ‘sign up’ as a

peer, quick skills audit

Leadership Essentials Planning

ProgrammesPlanning Reform: understanding the planning

change agenda

• Housing White Paper, standardised OAN,

upcoming changes to the NPPF, ….

• Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th January 2018:

For all senior councillors.

cost £250 including accommodation and meals.

Contact grace.collins@local.gov.uk

We are at local.gov.uk/pas

PAS

• Email pas@local.gov.uk– Tell us what we can do to help

– Invite us to your local POG

– Show off if you are doing great things

• Remember the Khub network @ khub.net

– Planning officers, the PAS team - and others - from

around the country exchange ideas and solve

problems there.

– The CIL and enforcement groups are very active too

Questions?

Email pas@local.gov.uk

Webwww.local.gov.uk/pas

Phone 020 7664 3000

Twitter @Pas_Team