Addison & Associates have been short listed for this year's RTPI planning awards for the work undertaken for A Benchmark for the Spatial Planning Function 2008.

The development of the benchmark of an ‘ideal planning service’ arose as a result of an initiative by CLG with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)/ Planning Advisory Service (PAS), to support authorities improve their planning functions, in the context of spatial planning following the 2004 Planning Act.  It is intended to reflect the need for the planning function to focus on achieving the sustainable development outcomes for the community it serves and adopting the highest standards for those places. The planning service benchmark provides an objective framework for assessing where authorities are and the actions needed to improve services to secure better outcomes on the ground.  The benchmark can be used as a self assessment tool by authorities or by external assessment. It relates directly to both the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) and Service Inspection frameworks. 

Addison & Associates were first commissioned by IDeA/PAS to undertake the development of the benchmark in 2006.  This was supported by the Planning Officers Society, PAS, the Planning Inspectorate, the Audit Commission and CLG and other stakeholders.  It has been used by IDeA to undertake 33 peer reviews.  In 2008 a major review was undertaken to take into account changing best practice and policy and the new Comprehensive Area Assessment performance framework due to be implemented from 1 April 2009.  The benchmark identifies 6 critical success factors for an ideal planning service.  Each critical success factor is then sub-divided into: Ambitions - what are you trying to achieve? Actions and processes – how are you going about it? Results - what are you achieving?

(Follow link to download document  http://www.pas.gov.uk/pas/core/page.do?pageId=29909) 

Jun 2009