Dec 2010 - South Worcestershire Development Plan

SOUTH WORCESTERSHIRE ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 20101049.10 Indicators looking at accessibility to services have been useful inestablishing a baseline position but in the absence of previousmonitoring information or targets it is difficult to comment on whetherperformance is either good or bad. Over time, it will be possible toidentify trends and provide comment on these; but the establishment ofclear targets is necessary to track policy effectiveness and ensure thatmodal shift and healthy lifestyle objectives are being achieved.Information for the current year shows that, whilst the focus ofdevelopment is still very much within the ‘urban core’; it will beincreasingly important to monitor the amount of development that hastaken place outside of settlement boundaries as well as the rural areas.This is due to a number of factors, including the continued build out ofsites permitted prior to the strategy’s adoption; the recession affectingthe commencement and delivery of the larger urban sites; and the largenumber of rural settlements.Is a jobs / homes balance being achieved?9.11 There is clearly an issue with the delivery of this objective, as isdemonstrated by both net jobs growth and jobs growth by sector. Thenet gain in jobs has been has increased across South Worcestershiresince 2003. However this masks the decline in employee jobs availablein Worcester by the high sustained growth seen in Wychavon District.Figures are not yet available for the post 2008 period so the situationcannot be fully tracked in this AMR and rather provides a retrospectivelook at data collected at the start of the recession. It is clear that therecession will have had an impact but there are indications that theSouth Worcestershire economy and the recent work to address itsdevelopment are ensuring it is more resilient than many similar areas.9.12 It will be important for the emerging SWDP to work with its partners toensure the ‘right’ jobs are being created, if diversification of theeconomy and a move to higher value jobs is to be attained. Futureeditions will try to source more up to date figures on the number of jobsper sector being created annually. This is an important issue for the