Egan review of skills - Royal Institute of British Architects

104 Pages·2004·2.88 MB·English

SKILLS FOR
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COMMUNITIES
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SKILLS FOR
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD BY SIR JOHN EGAN 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7
Introduction 7
Summary of Recommendations 11
CHAPTER ONE: THE COMMON GOAL: DEFINING AND MEASURING
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES 17
CHAPTER TWO: RESPONSIBILITIES AND PROCESSES FOR DELIVERY 31
CHAPTER THREE: THE RIGHT SKILLS FOR THE JOB 51
CHAPTER FOUR: THE WAY FORWARD 63
ANNEX A: TASK GROUP BIOGRAPHIES 90
ANNEX B: SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES INDICATORS 92
ANNEX C: OCCUPATIONS INVOLVED IN PLANNING, DELIVERING
AND MAINTAINING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES 100
ANNEX D: DEFINITIONSOFGENERIC SKILLS 103
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FOREWORD BY
SIR JOHN EGAN
When the Deputy Prime – places that are safe, clean, friendly, and
Minister invited me to prosperous, with good amenities such as
undertake a Skills Review, education, health services, shopping and green
the focus was very much spaces. These priorities are widely known,
on the professional, built andhave been shown to work in successful
environment skills communities that have built up over hundreds
necessary to deliver ofyears. They are reflected in the ideal goal
sustainable communities. assetout in the Government’s Sustainable
Professional skills are CommunitiesPlan (and in the first Chapter of
vitally important, but thisreport). But in too many places our current
simply upgrading these in isolation will not, approach and systems are failing to deliver what
Ibelieve, deliver the outcomes the Government people want.
isseeking – communities in which people want
There are some good examples of where
tolive and work, and which are sustainable for
wegetitright, principally in the renaissance
future generations.
ofcitycentres and in some individual places,
The Government’s concept of the ‘Sustainable butingeneral development is not resulting in
Community’ is, in my view, an exceptionally good communities in which people can live wholesome
one, but making it work across the country will and prosperous lives, let alone experience a
require the active engagement of more than just sustainable twenty-first century.
built environment professionals. A wide range of
There are too many housing estates simply
occupations – from planners, architects and
dumped into spaces with no amenities and no
surveyors, to staff from central, regional and
thought for their future governance. Too many
localgovernment, to retailers, educators and
uglyretail parks serving no other purpose than
policeofficers will have an essential role to play
shopping by car. Too many hospitals and schools
inmaking communities attractive, safe places to
isolated from the communities they serve. Too
live. This approach will require new skills and
many business parks, pristine and splendid, but
newways of working for everyone involved.
hermetically sealed from the outside world, thus
Why do we need a new approach? People are very effectively relieving business from the need to
clear about what they want from their communities giveleadership to the communities they serve.
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The Egan Review: Skills for Sustainable Communities
The reasons for this are complex – planning governance of communities, economic planning
guidelines have, in the past, often led to single forprosperity, communication (especially listening
purpose developments because it was easier for to and selling to communities), risk taking, and
all concerned, except of course for the community above all leadership and partnership working.
at large; the highly regulated development process Local authorities and local agencies will need
has resulted in guidance on matters such as todemonstrate high levels of competency in the
highways acting as straightjackets on good latter two, as much of the work to develop and
development making it impossible to deliver safe retrofit communities will need to be done locally –
and attractive places; successive governments it cannot be done from the centre simply because
have vied with each other to emasculate the itneeds to be supported by local people. This
authority of local government, often resulting in presents as much of a challenge for national as
poor leadership and vision for the local area; and forlocal government. Central departments will
some developers have delivered lowest common need to demonstrate risk taking and delegation
denominator sites because there has been no skills to free up local agencies to deliver on
incentive to do otherwise. theground.
To turn things around we need a common goal, Upskilling the broad range of core and associated
aclear understanding of the sort of communities occupations with a role in planning, delivering and
we are trying to achieve; strong and empowered maintaining sustainable communities represents
leadership at local level that will drive a vision avery significant challenge, but it is one that we
forward in conjunction with all key partners; must take on if things are to change and real
efficient, transparent processes for delivery progress is to be made. Ensuring that all
(including creation of the vision, development of participants have competencies in the generic
aSustainable Communities Strategy detailing skills at levels commensurate with their roles,
infrastructure requirements and development willrequire political determination, finance, and
opportunities, arrangements for engaging the engagement from everyone involved. I believe
localcommunity, and cost effective pre-application thata new national body is needed to lead on this
and planning processes); and above all skilled complex skills agenda and I urge the Deputy Prime
committed individuals working together to make Minister to establish this as quickly as possible.
people’s priorities a reality.
This Skills Review is only a starting point; the
Delivering better communities requires not only direction it advocates will need to be developed by
the professional skills of planning, architecture the proposed National Centre for Sustainable
andsurveying, but also a broad range of generic Communities Skills, and informed by research into
skills, behaviour and knowledge – such as sustainable communities as a common goal.
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Foreword by Sir John Egan
We have some major opportunities ahead of This was a new and broad area of work for me,
ustotry and get this right. These include the and as expected it proved challenging. It needed
lowdemand pathfinders in the North of England anequally broad range of knowledge and expertise
andthe growth areas in the South East. The to assist in the formulation of the ideas I have put
involvement of the Prime Minister in chairing forward, and I drew together a Task Group to
thecabinet sub-committee on the Thames support me. All members of the Group gave me
Gateway and other growth areas demonstrates their full commitment and dedication and I thank
thestrength of Government commitment to this them all, with special thanks to those members
agenda. I hope that the processes set out in this who chaired sub-groups on particular issues.
report will be followed and the legacy of the
cabinet sub-committee will not only be magnificent
new communities in the Thames Gateway and
elsewhere, but also a leading example of how
joined-up working canbe achieved at all levels
ofGovernment.
Sir John Egan
Chair of the Review
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The Egan Review: Skills for Sustainable Communities
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CABE Commission for Architecture and the
Built Environment
DEFRA Department of Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs
DETR Department of Environment, Transport
and the Regions
DfES Department for Education and Skills
IDeA Improvement and Development Agency
LDF Local Development Framework
LGA Local Government Association
LSC Learning and Skills Council
LSP Local Strategic Partnership
NRU Neighbourhood Renewal Unit
ODPM Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
RCE Regional Centre of Excellence
RTPI Royal Town Planning Institute
SEEDA South East Regional Development
Agency
SSC Sector Skills Council
SSDA Sector Skills Development Agency
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION Such organisations have clear goals, efficient
delivery processes, effective systems for constant
Places where people want to live – and that are
process improvement, good leaders who can make
sustainable – do not happen by chance. They are
connections between skills in different professions,
the product of visionary thinking and commitment
and staff with the right skills who are focused as
by highly skilled civic and national leaders,
ateam on delivering the common goal.
developers and professionals, with the full
engagement and support of local partners Common goal (Chapter One)
andcommunities.
We have developed a definition of the ‘sustainable
To understand the skills needed to deliver
community’ which we propose should become a
suchcommunities, we need first to have a good
common goal for everyone involved – central and
grasp ofthe meaning of the term ‘sustainable
local government, service providers, communities,
community’, and the processes by which such
the private and the voluntary sectors. It is based on
communities are delivered. We also need to know
the criteria in the Sustainable Communities Plan,1
that our concept of a sustainable community is
which have been tested by MORI focus groups and
broadly supported by the people.
which are supported by a wealth of historic and
Our approach to this Review has been to ask a research data. Our definition is:
series of questions: what sort of communities
arewe trying to create, and how should we Sustainable communities meet the diverse
measure achievement; what are the most effective needs of existing and future residents, their
delivery processes, and who is responsible for children and other users, contribute to a
these; and finally what skills are needed to make high quality of life and provide opportunity
the processes work effectively, and how do we and choice. They achieve this in ways that
bridge the gap between our current skills base make effective use of natural resources,
andthe skills we want? enhance the environment, promote social
cohesion and inclusion and strengthen
We believe that delivery of sustainable communities
economic prosperity.
and the skills necessary to support delivery have
much in common with the way that successful
organisations operate and the skills that they display.
1 ODPM (2003) Sustainable Communities: Building for the future
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The Egan Review: Skills for Sustainable Communities
This definition is backed up by a set of seven authorities have the right blend of local knowledge,
components and associated sub-components, presence and accountability to make this work.
andtogether they constitute the ‘common goal’.
We propose that the mechanism for engaging all
Webelieve that once adopted by all stakeholders,
key stakeholders in developing the vision should
the definition and indicators for measuring
be a SustainableCommunity Strategy. We feel that
progress, can be a means of securing more
the current approach to Community Strategies
effective joining up of policy agendas in national,
often lacks clear direction and is insufficiently
regional and local government; provide a
comprehensive to deliver our common goal. We
framework for delegating much more performance
believe that existing and future Strategies should
related responsibility from national to local
be aligned better with the objective of delivering
government; create a mechanism for identifying
sustainable communities, and should articulate
essential components in very significant new
clearly how sustainable development can be used
developments; and provide a framework within
to promote economic prosperity, social cohesion
which skill sets can be developed.
and environmental quality in their area.
Progress towards a more sustainable future will
In particular, Sustainable Community Strategies
need to be tracked, and we have identified a small
and their associated action plans need to identify
number of performance indicators that could be
infrastructure requirements to support
used to demonstrate achievement.
development opportunities and growth. They need
to balance the cost of investment with the longer
Responsibilities and Processes
term wealth that will be generated by sustainable
for Delivery (Chapter Two)
development opportunities. Such Strategies should
We examined the processes required to achieve give a greater degree of confidence to developers
our common goal and where responsibility for co- and investors, and should help the community to
ordinating and orchestrating delivery should lie. see the positive effects and wealth creation
We were immediately struck by the success of benefits of major development.
local authorities that have visionary leadership –
Successful delivery of the vision will require
atmember and officer level. We believe that local
effective planning processes, including pre-
authority chief executives and leaders, with the
planning application discussions for very
support of their cabinets, are best placed to
significant developments that engage all key
develop a vision for the future of their area based
players from theoutset of the process. We want to
on the sustainable community components we
see developers, councillors, local authority staff,
identify, and to secure the buy-in of the community
infrastructure providers, community groups
and other stakeholders. Regional bodies must be
andbuilt environment professionals all working
key partners in the delivery process, but only local
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