Decision details

Part 3, Schedule 3 - Responsibility for Executive Functions delegated to Officers paragraph 4.3 (1) - the Corporate Director has delegated authority to discharge executive functions within their respective service areas (Part 3.38). All delegations are subject to consultation where considered appropriate in the circumstances (paragraph 4.3 (4(ii) - Part 3.39). The Corporate Director Planning and Regeneration (Ewan Green) has delegated operational matters relating to this work to the Head of Regeneration.

Officers determined to commission consultants to undertake a light touch review of the Council’s Economic Development Strategy and Employment Land Review, with the requirement that both documents be rationalised using robust and up to date evidence, with the purpose of informing and supporting the Council’s position at the Examination in Public of its emerging Local Plan. The review of the Council’s Economic Development Strategy will identify the means through which the Council can diversify and strengthen the district’s economy and create the right economic conditions to deliver sustainable economic growth particularly with the higher value adding sectors. The Employment Land Review will focus on the Council’s policies for the allocation and protection of employment land. This work will include research to inform the strategy in order to deliver new employment opportunities linked to the large strategic sites allocated for mixed use development in the emerging Local Plan. The two studies are intrinsically linked and will therefore inform each other in terms of the evidence identified and the documents key actions.

Work will be managed against an agreed programme comprising five distinct stages: Stage 1: Inception Stage 2: EDS Evidence Stage 3: ELR Evidence Stage 4: Visioning and Recommendations Stage 5: Reporting This staged approach will enable the Client Team to manage risk and to control expenditure. The required resources to cover the cost of this work has been identified in the budgets held by the Council's Planning Service (Planning Policy - Local Plan). Consultants have been commissioned against the Council's Standard Form of Contract for the Provision of Services.