Impact case study database

In the past, Planning for how land is used and developed has been perceived as being disconnected from the places it affects, with limited involvement from the communities it serves. In England, the 2011 Localism Act changed the structures of the planning system, abolishing regional planning and introducing Neighbourhood Planning, ostensibly to give more power to city-regions and communities. A body of spatial Planning research at the University of Liverpool has empowered communities and city regions in England to take up the opportunities now available to them to develop their own plans for their own areas. This research has also influenced policy and practice in other international contexts, as discussed below.

The Localism Act 2011 opened up “new channels for democratic participation by citizens” (Ref 2, p. 1325), enabling them to prepare their own Neighbourhood Plans and thus exercise more influence over development taking place in their communities. Our research on Planning at the neighbourhood scale is empowering communities and helping them to participate in Planning through active neighbourhood planning groups, building capacity and improving understanding of effective Planning, thus increasing the reach of the Localism Act. Communities receive very limited grant support for Neighbourhood Planning activity, so additional support where other professional help is unattainable is invaluable in building capacity and enabling them to produce their own Neighbourhood Plans (Ref 3).

Dr Sturzaker, with support from undergraduate students, has directly educated five communities across Liverpool, from 2013 onwards. This is part of a rolling programme of support for individual communities. Engage Liverpool, a local charity with whom researchers have worked, state that this work “has built capacity for Neighbourhood Planning in communities which, due to their demographic or socio-economic characteristics, have found it difficult to engage in the reforms introduced by the 2011 Localism Act” (Ref 5.1). One community that has benefited from the support, the Wavertree Triangle group, state that the programme has “enhanced the community’s engagement in Neighbourhood Planning” (Ref 5.2). Additional Impact is demonstrated by Dr Sykes’ membership of the L8 Neighbourhood Planning Group, which serves an intensely deprived area of Liverpool. The group is benefitting from increased understanding of and participation in Planning as a result of Dr Sykes’ action research as a full member of the group. This builds upon his ongoing engagement in the area, including evidence submitted to a public inquiry into the proposed redevelopment of the Welsh Streets neighbourhood in 2014. The Welsh Streets Home Group (WHSG) comment that Dr Sykes’ work meant that the WHSG were “able to effectively counter existing developer narratives, and work towards a plan that included a more equitable approach to planning. This proved invaluable to the residents whose homes were reprieved for refurbishment after a 9 year battle with the local authority. Dr. Sykes was an important contributor to the process” (Ref 5.3) . The planning application was subsequently refused, as argued for by Dr Sykes in his evidence. Dr Sykes’ profile in this area is such that he was interviewed on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 in April 2017 (Ref 5.4).

Dr Sturzaker’s research on the status of Neighbourhood Plans across the 40 Local Planning Authorities in the North West of England has been used by Planning Aid England, who recognise the “ important contribution” to “ policy and practice around Neighbourhood Planning in the North West of England” (Ref 5.5). Planning Aid England is a charitable body helping individuals and communities engage with the planning system. They have used this research to target the support they offer to community groups to assist them with the production of Neighbourhood Plans, improving the quality and quantity of Neighbourhood Plans, and making more efficient use of resources: “ This database has subsequently been used to direct Planning Aid activity, including engaging with local planning authorities to generate more support from them for Neighbourhood Planning; and in targeting our limited volunteer resources to the communities where we can be of most help. These activities have built capacity for Neighbourhood Planning in deprived communities in the North West” (Ref 5.5). By influencing local planning authorities (decision and policy makers), this work is reducing barriers to Neighbourhood Planning identified in our research (Refs 3.2 and 3.3).

The North West Neighbourhood Planning network was co-founded by Dr Sturzaker and Dr Sykes to share good practice on this issue. The network is a platform for collaboration between Neighbourhood Planning groups across the North West of England, enabling them to learn from each other and build greater capacity for community-led Planning, demonstrated to assist with Neighbourhood Planning (Ref 3.1). Planning Aid England agrees that the network, through events and online activity is “ raising awareness of, and building capacity for, Neighbourhood Planning in the region” (Ref 5.E) .

Planning activity has been rescaled to give city-regions greater control over development in their areas. This has been achieved through direct engagement with city-regional and national governing bodies. Specific examples for the Liverpool City-Region, Seoul (South Korea) and France are given to demonstrate this reform.

Over a four-year period since 2016, Dr Sturzaker and Prof Lord have made direct contributions to the first Spatial Development Strategy (SDS) of the Liverpool City-Region Combined Authority (LCRCA). The SDS is a blueprint for the development and use of land for the next 15 years. The policies that make up the strategy will be considered when determining planning applications across the City Region, affecting one million, six hundred thousand residents. Liverpool’s Spatial Economic Audit, published in 2016 (Ref 5.6), is a key evidence base for policies within the SDS. The Audit enabled plan-makers to better understand the City Region in order to develop a better-informed strategy. Following the utility of the Liverpool audit, in February 2019 the LCRCA commissioned Dr Sturzaker and the Royal Town Planning Institute to develop a bespoke climate resilience policy for the SDS (Ref 5.7). This involved educating Planning professionals on best practice to ensure the policy could robustly protect the city region from the worst effects of climate change. The LCRCA explains the value of this (Ref 5.8): “ The recent work led by Dr. Sturzaker on best practice in strategic policy for climate resilience has been important in raising our team’s awareness of different policy options in use elsewhere, building our capacity around climate resilience, and in shaping how the Spatial Planning team positions itself with partners, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful policy delivery.”

For the last three years, Dr Nurse has been an advisor to the Mayor of Seoul on urban regeneration, influencing planning practice and policy at a city-regional level. For example, Dr Nurse is the only UK adviser on the International Strategy Committee Meeting for the Establishment of the Changdong-Sanggye Industrial Cluster. The Cluster is a 380,000m² former industrial site undergoing regeneration including a large employment hub and stadium and is the last major development site in Seoul. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has hosted Dr Nurse on site in order to learn transferable lessons from his research on urban regeneration – specifically large-scale regeneration of land – in order to inform their Planning strategy. Dr Nurse also worked with Seoul Metropolitan Government to inform the sectoral nature of the industrial cluster providing evidence from Liverpool of EU-funded activity on innovation-driven regeneration. A senior member of the team in Seoul explained that Dr Nurse’s work helped them in “developing a new type of outside investment to Korean development project… [and] influenced the projects on the Changdong-Sanggye Industrial Cluster” (Ref 5.9).

The scaling of Planning policy in major French city regions is overseen by the French state’s inter-ministerial PUCA (Plan, Urbanisme, Construction, Architecture) unit. Since 2016 Dr Sykes has advised PUCA on housing and city regional governance and planning. His evaluation of existing activity, in the context of his own research, has directly influenced PUCA’s next pipeline of projects under the POPSU2 programme. As they have confirmed, Dr Sykes’ insights “helped to enrich our own knowledge and thinking on how to approach this policy area in the French context… [and] fed into the design and focus of our new research programmes” (Ref 5.10).