GM spatial plan reaches latest milestone
An integrated assessment scoping report, which includes objectives against which the success of the emerging spatial framework will be judged, has been published and is open for comment.
The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework will be an overarching statutory document used by planners in each local authority to guide development and growth, while co-ordinating it across the city region.
The next step in preparing the framework is to agree a set of objectives against which the proposals can be assessed at each stage of the process.
These objectives will be used to evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts, positive and negative, of the proposed framework through what is called an integrated assessment. This comprises a number of statutory plan and non-statutory assessments, including a sustainability appraisal, strategic environmental assessment and an equalities impact assessment.
Work to develop the Greater Manchester Spatial framework is being led by Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. From 2017, subject to legislation, the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework will be the responsibility of the elected mayor but can only be approved with the unanimous approval of the combined authority cabinet made up of all 10 local authorities.
The integrated assessment scoping report, including the objectives, has been released on the AGMA website and will be available for comments from Tuesday 28 July to Tuesday 1 September.
For more information, or to give feedback on the report, click here
Cllr Sue Derbyshire, Greater Manchester Combined Authority lead on planning and housing, said: “The spatial framework will reflect our ambition for Greater Manchester to manage the challenge of growth across all 10 authorities in a coherent way.
“Our work has Greater Manchester people at its heart – we want to connect them to the opportunities created by growth, and that means sustainable and well-connected neighbourhoods. But it also means that we need to ensure that we gauge the impact of any proposals to make sure they are as positive as possible in supporting our goals for Greater Manchester.”
Further information on the development of the spatial framework will be released later this year with a first draft due to be published in autumn 2016.
