Regulation 18 Draft Local Plan
Chapter 14 – Monitoring and Implementation
(5) Monitoring Framework
14.1 A central element of the implementation of planning policies is assessing their effectiveness through robust monitoring mechanisms. The Council will regularly assess the performance of individual policies and overall progress in delivering the strategic objectives of the Local Plan. This will be used to inform any change to policies or additional actions considered to be required.
14.2 This will be carried out by collecting information on a number of indicators, set out in a monitoring framework which will accompany the submission version of the Local Plan. The indicators be reported on an annual basis in the Authority Monitoring Report (AMR). The monitoring indicators will provide information about whether policies are achieving their objectives; determine if any targets are being met; and determine if the policies in the Local Plan remain relevant or whether updates to policy are required.
14.3 Monitoring of the Local Plan will primarily be achieved through the collection of information about the effectiveness of key Local Plan policies. This information can be used to identify when a change in the approach to development management decision making is necessary, to ensure that the objectives underpinning planning policies are achieved. In defining objectives for each policy, these generally relate to the identified strategic objectives within the Local Plan aimed at bringing about the overall vision. However, some policies do not align precisely with a strategic objective, or do so with several. Here the overall and underlying objective is sustainable development; steering growth into locations best able to support it, reducing the need to travel, harmonising housing and employment, creating vital communities and reducing human impacts to the minimum consistent with achieving a decent standard of living and passing the same onto future generations.
14.4 The AMR will also continue to report on contextual indicators. These include demographic changes, employment and unemployment statistics, visitor numbers and spend and so on. The Sustainability Appraisal of the Local Plan also provides for monitoring and reporting of the significant environmental effects of implementing the Local Plan within the Authority Monitoring Report.
14.5 The information required to monitor the indicators is generally accessible and available either from sources of national statistics, from data sources regionally or sub-regionally, and also from information held or collected within the Council and its partner organisations. The precise choice of indicators is made on the basis of a number of factors, including: relevance; ready availability of data over time (including issues of cost and reliability); and likely significant effects identified in the sustainability appraisal.
(3) Review
14.6 The AMR will be the mechanism for monitoring the effects of policies in the Local Plan. If during the plan period it becomes apparent that policies are ineffective, or not satisfactorily achieving the desired outcome, relevant steps will be put in place to ensure that this is addressed.
