Planning
The NWDA is involved in the planning process at a strategic
level. We have helped to shape the Regional Spatial Strategy -
which will be combined with the Regional Economic Strategy in the
new single Regional Strategy, known as RS2010. The NWDA has joint
responsibility with 4NW in preparing the single Regional Strategy
for the Northwest, to be published in 2010.
The Agency is a specific consultation body on local authority
development frameworks and a statutory consultee on planning
applications for certain types of development.
Statutory Consultee
The Agency has notified the region’s local planning authorities
of the types of development it wishes to be consulted on in our
role as a statutory consultee.
Essentially, these are major infrastructure proposals and
developments on, or affecting, strategic regional sites identified
in the Regional Economic Strategy. The Agency will comment on other
proposals on a discretionary basis.
Some recent proposals on which the NWDA has commented include:
the proposed new Mersey Gateway crossing; development of a new
headquarters for Greater Manchester Police at One Central Park in
Manchester; various proposals relating to the Strategic Rail
Freight Park at Ditton; and the proposed Tithebarn redevelopment in
Preston City Centre.
A number of the planning applications the Agency comments on
affect the region’s urban regeneration work.
National Policy Statements
The Government is about to develop a series of National Policy
Statements on nationally significant infrastructure projects.
National Policy Statements will establish the national case for
infrastructure development and set the policy framework for
decisions by a new body, the Infrastructure Planning
Commission.
They will cover: new or expanded infrastructure; locational
considerations; how impacts are to be assessed and weighed against
benefits; and how to lessen or alleviate impacts. The NWDA will be
a statutory consultee on National Policy Statements and any
projects which are brought forward within the region.
The Government has proposed 12 initial National Policy
Statements covering: ports; national road and rail networks
(including strategic rail freight interchanges); airports; waste
water (including sewage treatment infrastructure); water supply
(including reservoirs); hazardous waste; overarching energy
(setting the context for the other energy National Policy
Statements); renewables; fossil fuels; electricity networks; oil
and gas infrastructure (including pipelines and storage); and
nuclear power.
Sustainability Considerations
Building sustainable infrastructure in the region is key to
building a successful region. The NWDA considers the sustainability
of planning applications to make sure that developments impact on
the environment as little as possible - both directly, in terms of
generating carbon emissions and using natural resources, and
indirectly, by affecting the lifestyle decisions of its
communities.
There is a dedicated Checklist Northwest website for developers
and architects which allows them to demonstrate how sustainability
has been integrated into a development at the design and planning
stage. The Checklist is mandatory for all developments over
£500,000.
There is also a dedicated Integrated Appraisal Toolkit website
for developers which allows them to demonstrate how sustainability
has been integrated into a development at the design and planning
stage of public realm and public space projects. Again, the
Checklist is mandatory for all developments over £500,000.
The Integrated Appraisal Toolkit is also used by local
authorities, not only to assess projects, but also as an
information resource and a source of baseline information.