SLC was a proud sponsor of the recent Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) seminar on Planning for Culture, the Arts and Sporting Facilities in Sustainable New Communities in London on 6 November 2013. The seminar also included a presentation by Duncan Wood-Allum on Leveraging strategic investment in culture and sport through the private sector. The TCPA’s new Improving Culture, Arts and Sporting Opportunities through Planning: A Good Practice Guide was presented at the seminar, and Duncan was joined on the agenda by:
- Paul Bristow, Acting Director – Strategic Partnerships, Arts Council
- Michael Chang, Planning Policy Officer, TCPA
- Graham Riding, Culture Development Manager, Wakefield Council
- Dale Greetham, Planning Manager, Sport England
- Charles Freeman, Charles Freeman Projects
- Chenine Bhathena, Senior Cultural Strategy Officer and Paul Harper, Mayor’s Regeneration Team, Greater London Authority.
The presentations from all the day’s speakers are available here. The seminar, co-promoted with cCLOA, was designed to help planning officers, cultural and leisure officers, professionals and delivery partners to:
- identify and understand the National Planning Policy Framework
- plan for high-quality sustainable developments and regeneration proposals through the culture offer
- use the planning framework to help drive the provision of cultural and sporting facilities, services and activities,
- understand approaches to assessing need local needs and provisions requirements as part of planning evidence for you local plan and CIL
- maximise the use of, and access to, existing information and resources to help during the planning process.
Some of the projects to benefit from this have been the Bexhill Cinema and the Kings Warren development in Red Lodge Suffolk. In Red Lodge, Crest Nicholson built a sports pavilion, which includes football pitches and tennis courts for use by the local community. The Bexhill Cinema was reclaimed under the Localism Act for the residents of Bexhill and will be restored to bring back a working cinema. Duncan Wood-Allum Director of SLC said, “With reductions in capital expenditure on non statutory services, it is vital that we use the planning process to optimise investment in cultural and sporting facilities. Making the case with a clear evidence base and needs analysis is crucial and the TCPA guide provides some excellent advice on how to achieve this. I shared some learning from recent projects where communities have benefitted from a strategic approach to planning for culture and sport and highlighting some of the key issues and opportunities to consider.”
The TCPA Guide can be downloaded here. Duncan Wood-Allum can be contacted on 01444 459927 or by email.