PLANNING
STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SPORT
Neil Allen looks at how Sport England’s new framework can help organisations involved in sport improve the way they plan facilities provision and drive efficiency savings
A
ny objective analysis of the past few months might lead readers to conclude that there’s very little future in
sport – given the changes being driven through by the new coalition govern- ment and set against the backdrop of the enormous financial challenges facing the local authority sector. In July of this year, Eric Pickles, secre-
tary of state for communities and local government, set out the coalition gov- ernment’s direction for the planning system, which many saw as the begin- ning of a dismantling of the current planning regime – certainly at regional level. Gone are Regional Spatial Strate- gies (except in London), regional housing allocations and Regional Development Agencies. At local level, the Local De- velopment Framework (LDF) process remains for now but there is uncertainty over the future of core strategies. Plan- ning Policy Guidance Note 17 has been under review for a considerable time and the signs are that anything that emerges will say little in terms of sport, recreation and culture – lost in a more generic national planning framework. At the same time, many of the tradi- tional drivers for local authorities to get
their strategic planning policies in order are disappearing on the wave of change. Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAA) and the cry that “the inspectors are com- ing” will no longer provide the stimulus for authorities to get their strategy house in order. Similarly, the catalyst of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) for authorities to take a strategic ap- proach to the planning of the sport and leisure estate, and more latterly playing pitches, has now all but gone as a driver for the time being.
Future challenges Faced with the changing landscape it is tempting to sound the death knell for strategic sport and leisure planning. In the new landscape, however, the role of strategic planning and the identification of objective needs and evidence for sport will be arguably even more critical in the sense that we will no longer be devel- oping strategic facility plans for sport, which are often consigned to sit on the shelf but instead the sector will need to undertake strategic planning that will drive the future shape and delivery of our sport and leisure services. As highlighted in a previous edition of Sports Management, the recent
The government is committed to easing red tape in the planning system
National Facilities Inquiry set out the critical role of strategic planning to drive re-investment, rationalisation and the desire for better-placed and a better-used sports facility infrastruc- ture. (See Q3 2010, p24).
Strategic commissioning This policy theme is now being de- veloped by the Local Government Improvement and Development (LGID) as part of the drive towards strategic com- missioning in public services. Strategic commissioning puts users
The identification of objective needs and evidence for sport will be even more critical in the new landscape
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and communities at the centre of the process of decision-making to produce better outcomes for communities as part of an approach which considers strategic needs assessment, options appraisal, monitoring and managing performance. The LGID consider strategic needs assessment as the foundation
Issue 4 2010 © cybertrek 2010
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