In PPS12, paragraph 4.33 states: "Local authorities should align and coordinate the core strategy of the local development framework with the unitary or district sustainable community strategy."
The role of the local development framework is to turn the sustainable community strategy's strategic vision into policy that guides and shapes development over 15 to 20 years after the plan's adoption.
The core strategy should act as the spatial vision of the sustainable community strategy and it should aim to cover a wide range of policies and programmes.
The Local Government White Paper outlines the intention and advantages of integrating the sustainable community strategy into the broader local development framework process. It also outlines how the link between the two is founded on the principle of sustainability and the ability to collectively deliver sustainable communities. This integration is key to ensuring that delivery is at the heart of the plan making system.
The Local Government White Paper described the sustainable community strategy as:
"The role of the sustainable community strategy is to set out the strategic vision for a place. It provides a vehicle for considering and deciding how to address difficult cross-cutting issues such as the economic future of an area, social exclusion and climate change. Building these issues into the community's vision in an integrated way is at the heart of creating sustainable development at the local level."
Related good practice examples: SCS and other strategy relationships
Barnsley
The Barnsley Community Plan 2005-2008 has had a strong influence on core strategy content. The sustainable community plan is prepared by ‘One Barnsley', which is a partnership of the public, private and voluntary sectors in Barnsley. It sets out aims and objectives that are mirrored in the core strategy.
It mentions ‘Remaking Barnsley Strategic Development Framework 2003-2033' as being an important document that provides the entire basis for the vision for the area in the preferred options document.
Also mentioned in the core strategy preferred options are:
- a regional sustainable development framework,
- a Sub-Regional Spatial Strategy for South Yorkshire
- an Open Spaces and Outdoor Recreational Strategy 2003.
External and internal integration in Barnsley means:
- the use of informal monthly meetings between most departments and the local development framework team
- the local development framework is involved in cross-sector working with education stakeholders and the regional development agency, looking at the relationship between secondary schools and regeneration
- the local development framework team is committed to beneficial joint working, such as working closely with ‘Transform South Yorkshire', which is the housing market renewal pathfinder initiative
- joint working with other sectors and partners helps in delivery issues.
Crawley
The local development framework team involved other departments through a series of formal working groups and informal meetings. These helped to join up the housing and transport strategies as well as the sustainable community strategy.
The sustainable community strategy is seen as the primary driver behind the core strategy and is reflected in its content. It uses a common vision and then identifies aspects of the sustainable community strategy that need to be addressed by specific policy themes.
Gloucester
Gloucester's core strategy preferred options reflected a number of other strategies and plans such as the:
- Gloucester Community Strategy - ‘Our Gloucester, Our Future'
- Structure Plan
- Transport Plan
- Corporate Strategy - ‘Blueprint for Change'.
The success includes implementing the sustainable community strategy, taking targets and feeding them into the development of core policies such as housing and crime.
The planning department are working with the County Crime Reduction Partnership and state their intentions in their core strategy to help implement the land use aspects of their crime reduction strategy. This objective is identified in both the sustainable community strategy and corporate strategy, recognised as an issue to be addressed and translated into a strategic objective.