Effective delivery of strategic sites

Planned new development at a strategic scale has a huge raft of benefits, not least in securing infrastructure alongside growth and an effective source of development delivery over time.  However, securing approvals for such sites, and ensuring their effective implementation, is a time and resource-intensive process which requires commitments to strong leadership, a clear vision and consistent political will to achieve.

Whilst planning and delivering large scale growth can be challenging and time consuming, many of these challenges are common between sites of this scale, regardless of location, typology or site-specific factors. 

We have developed a Toolkit designed to assist local planning authorities and their partners in helping to signpost key issues and find mechanisms to navigate such challenges throughout the process.  The Toolkit focuses on providing guidance for both those with limited experience of strategic site delivery and those with more experience but finding themselves with specific delivery issues

This Toolkit is designed to assist local planning authorities and their partners in signposting key issues and mechanisms to navigate challenges throughout the planning process

This frequently includes working alongside the private sector from the time at which development sites are identified and through the processes of allocation and consent, and once development is on the ground.  The aim is to ensure that the original objectives materialise to deliver the good places, quality and appropriate type of new development which meets the needs of the local area and the aspirations of local communities.

Many aspects of this Toolkit are applicable to all types of strategic scale development.  However, the vast majority of the complexities experienced by the authorities who fed into this research related to the development of new large-scale housing or residential-led development sites.  This Toolkit therefore focuses on this type of development.

The Toolkit has been prepared by David Lock Associates on behalf of The Local Government Association and Planning Advisory Service. Our thanks are extended to all those authorities who took part in the case study conversations to inform the analysis and recommendations.

Case studies

Please be aware these case studies should be read alongside the report as they are drafted to highlight specific aspects of strategic site deliver.

• Association of South Essex Local Authorities
• Birmingham
• Devon
• Fareham
• Knowsley
• Milton Keynes
• Milton Keynes (strategy for 2050)
• Nottingham
• Peterborough
• Peterborough (Hamptons)
• Rugby
• South Cambridgeshire

An accessible version of this report is also available to download from our website.

The PDF below contains interactive elements.  In order to use these, please download the document and open with a PDF viewer; we recommend Adobe Acrobat.