Plan making - Neighbourhood plans - Advice on evidence - Topic three: Infrastructure example


Specific Issue: A lack of local facilities for youths

While there are well-established standards for the provision of play space for children (i.e. local areas for play and local/neighbourhood equipped areas for play), there is an absence of such standards for youth facilities. Commonly this might include:

  • youth shelters
  • skateboard parks or BMX facilities
  • or it may be the physical space to run a particular youth activity, e.g. scouts or young persons' internet café.

 

Topic

Infrastructure example

Specific issues to be addressed

A lack of local facilities for youths

What do neighbourhood groups have to be able to properly demonstrate with the evidence they collect in order to ensure that NP policy is robust?

  • That there is a need for youth facilities given the expected growth in population in the future (and that there are existing youths in the community who need access to youth facilities).
  • That there is a lack of youth facilities within accessible distances of the local community (distance to and quantity and quality of facilities).
  • That the lack of youth facilities is having a detrimental effect on the community, e.g. through increased anti-social behaviour.
  • The type of facilities there is a demand for.
  • How much these proposed facilities would cost to provide and maintain.
  • How these facilities would be funded (construction and maintenance).
  • How and where these facilities might be delivered and who would be responsible for their maintenance.

What evidence do neighbourhood groups need to collect to help them demonstrate the issue and develop policy?

  • Evidence of demand from local children for particular facilities to be provided locally.
  • The level of demand for these uses from neighbouring communities – joint provision to provide more efficient delivery.
  • An audit of existing facilities – location, accessibility (travel time), quantity, quality, broad level of use.
  • An assessment of the amount of provision that is expected for the current population when compared to actual provision.
  • An assessment of the amount of additional provision that is expected to support the projected growth in the population.
  • The cost of providing new facilities and the amount of space needed if a large scale use.
What questions should they ask (either through a survey or focus group, etc) in order to gather effective evidence?

School children/youth groups/sports and leisure clubs

  • What do you ideally like to do in your spare time?
  • What facilities do you use at present in the local area? How do you get there?
  • What facilities do you not use? Why not?
  • What facilities do you use outside the area?
  • What facilities would you like to see provided in the local area? Why?
  • How far would you be prepared to travel to access these facilities? What mode of transport would you most likely use, i.e. car, public transport, walking or cycling?
  • How often would you be likely to use these facilities?

Parents

  • Would you be supportive of the provision of a particular youth facility that your child could access, i.e. would you be happy for your child to use that facility in that location?

Police/PCSOs

  • Are there anti-social issues with youths? If so, what are they and where do they occur?

Developers

  • Would you be prepared to provide necessary youth facilities as part of your development, ideally in the early phases?

Landowners

  • Would you be willing to sell/gift part of your land for youth facilities?

 

What evidence have you got to help neighbourhoods demonstrate the issue and develop policy? - How useful is it for them? - Is it in a useable form?

   

Evidence

Useful?

Useable format?

Demographic information – age breakdown of local population and population projections

   

PPG17 study

   

Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP)

   

Core Strategy/Local Plan SA/SEA background information

   

Monitoring data – number of planning permissions/completions by size of dwelling to forecast potential new youths in an area

   

Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)

   

Complaints to Environmental Health regarding noise from youths

   

Census data (from 2011 Census when available)

   

Community strategy – partnerships that exist, e.g. school youth council representatives, etc

   

Facilities costs (through Sport England or recent experience)

   

Vacant premises register