RSS East Of England Plan - Broads Authority

East of England Plan 109
POLICY IMP2: Monitoring the RSS
Annual monitoring will track the delivery of development and the related components of sustainable communities,
focusing particularly on:
• Progress towards delivery of infrastructure necessary to support development and economic success;
• Progress in the delivery of housing and evidence of housing need and housing market conditions, including
affordability;
• Progress in the development of the region’s economy, in particular the growth of employment and its alignment
with housing and population growth; and
• Delivery of the environmental and other objectives of the RSS, in particular with regard to water consumption,
waste water and emissions.
The results of such monitoring should be considered through the regional co-ordinating arrangements referred to in
Policy IMP1, which will consider any need to review regional budgets and other aspects of implementation.
14.11 The plan, monitor and manage approach lies at the heart of the RSS and its implementation through Local Development
Documents, transport plans and other means. Its outputs must be monitored in accordance with statutory requirements.
To comply with these EERA has published annual monitoring reports since 2001 (available on its website). Working with
the regional coordinating arrangements referred to in IMP1, EERA should consider whether its findings indicate a need for
action(s) to secure the implementation of the RSS and/or its policies to be reviewed. In this way a check is kept on whether
the strategy is working and any changes are necessary.
14.12 EERA’s approach to monitoring the RSS should accord with the good practice set out in Regional Spatial Strategy
Monitoring; a good practice guide (ODPM December 2005), the principles set out in PPS11 – Regional Planning (ODPM
September 2004) and the Town and Country Planning (Regional Planning) regulations.
14.13 EERA should keep its monitoring arrangements under review, in liaison with local authorities and other partners. A
particular aim will be to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of monitoring by ensuring that reliable and appropriate
indicators are set and mechanisms put in place to collect data. In addition to the matters identified in Policy IMP2, the
following areas require further development:
• an analytical process which addresses the key relationships and linkages between different policy areas (e.g. houses,
jobs and infrastructure);
• closer links between the processes for monitoring RSS and Local Development Documents;
• closer links between the processes for monitoring RSS and other regional strategies (e.g. the Regional Housing
Strategy, the Regional Economic Strategy, local transport plans);
• trajectories for the carbon performance of new development;
• sub-regional monitoring and closer working with neighbouring regions where sub-regions cross regional boundaries.
14.14 EERA’s Monitoring Framework, published with its Implementation Plan, sets out provisional output indicators and targets
related to the draft RSS objectives and policies and contextual indicators to assist understanding of the evolving context
in which the RSS operates. Where appropriate they reflect the national set of output indicators. So far as possible the
targets are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) but in some case further information is
needed before they can be defined precisely.