Places, People and Planning - Thinkpiece A Statutory Chief Planning Officer in Local Authorities

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1 Places, People and Planning - Thinkpiece A Statutory Chief Planning Officer in Local Authorities Craig McLaren on behalf of RTPI Scotland March 2017 The review of the planning system is an opportunity to effect real, positive change to the planning system. RTPI Scotland wants to see changes that make it easier for planners to maximise their contribution to building a more sustainable and successful Scotland. Working groups of RTPI Scotland members have prepared a series of thinkpieces that explore implementable changes to the planning system in detail. Each of these thinkpieces has been prepared with the intention of supporting the development of a system that is: a corporate and collaborative service that supports and influences investment and policy across local and national government a frontloaded and proactive system to allow for community and stakeholder engagement and agreement on the priorities for an area and who is going to take them forward able to deliver development by ensuring the vision for an area is viable and resourced recognised as a valuable way of providing solutions to complex issues, and resourced to fulfil this task These are RTPI Scotland s ambitions for the planning system, and we believe that they are largely shared by the Scottish Government. The proposals contained in the thinkpieces are intended to be workable, fitting within context and constraints, and complementing the proposals made by the Scottish Government in the consultation paper Places, People and Planning. This thinkpiece considers introducing the role of Chief Planning Officer to all local authorities, the benefits we believe this would deliver, and how it could be made to work in practice.

2 Introduction We need to make sure that strategic decisions taken by local authorities and Community Planning Partnerships are not taken in isolation. The implications of new investment and new development need to be assessed and planned for. Given this RTPI Scotland proposes that the forthcoming Planning Bill establishes a statutory Chief Planning Officer (CPO) in each local authority. This role would look to support local authorities and Community Planning Partnerships. It could provide a route to ensure that community planning and spatial planning are linked more effectively and supports the proposal in Places, People and Partnership to have a statutory link between these functions. This is not a bid to ensure that planners have a seat at the top table in local authorities. Rather it is to make sure that our cities, towns, villages and communities are planned properly. Our proposal will allow local authorities to ensure that the medium- and longterm implications of policy decisions and investments are fully considered at a corporate level through examining subsequent infrastructure needs, their medium- and long-term ramifications and their impact beyond the immediate area. Proposal for change We believe that the role of a Chief Planning Officer (CPO) for each planning authority should be established in legislation. This would ensure that the Corporate Management team in a local authority are provided with expertise about place and spatial planning. During decision making on strategic policy and investment the CPO would ensure consideration of: the medium- and long-term implications and ramifications for communities; the subsequent infrastructure needs; the impact beyond the immediate area; the future physical development issues; and, the future service provision issues. We believe that this will result in a better planned approach to service delivery and development, with benefits for both places and people. This approach is required for a number of reasons. Community Planning Partnerships have a legal obligation under the Community Empowerment Act 2015 to act with a view to reducing inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic disadvantage unless the partnership considers that it would be inappropriate to do so. Scottish Government states that community planning is about how public bodies work together and with local communities to design and deliver better services that make a real difference to local people s lives. Community planning is a key driver of public service reform at local level. It provides a focus for partnership working driven by strong shared leadership, directed towards distinctive local circumstances. Partners work together to improve local services, ensuring that they meet the needs of local people, especially for those people who need those services most. The Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services published in 2010 set out a number of priorities including: recognising that effective services must be designed with and for people and communities - not delivered 'top down' for administrative convenience; maximising scarce resources by utilising all available resources from the public, private and third sectors, individuals, groups and communities; working closely with individuals and communities to understand their needs, maximise talents and resources, support self-reliance, and build resilience; 2

3 3 concentrating the efforts of all services on delivering integrated services that deliver results; prioritising preventative measures to reduce demand and lessen inequalities; and, implementing better long-term strategic planning, including greater transparency around major budget decisions like universal entitlements. These demonstrate that there is a need to ensure decisions made by community planning partners are integrated with spatial planning; that they look to the short-, medium- and long-term; that the impacts the they will have on communities is understood; and that the implications across the community planning partnership areas (and sometimes beyond) are considered and known. The planning profession works in the public interest and so planners are well placed to ensure that the needs and circumstances of communities and places now and in the future are taken into account. Achieving the ambition of Places, People and Planning This proposal will support the achievement of ambitions in Places, People and Planning on Stronger Leadership and Smarter Resourcing. In particular, it responds to: Question 26: What measures can we take to improve leadership in the Scottish planning profession? Question 28: Are there ways in which we can support stronger multidisciplinary working between built environment professionals? Question 29: How can we better support planning authorities to improve their performance as well as the performance of others involved in the process? It also supports proposal 1 on aligning community planning and spatial planning (paragraphs of the consultation paper). Implementing our proposal Learning from Other Disciplines The concept of a statutory Chief Officer for a specific local authority function is not new. There are other models of statutory Chief Officers in Scottish local authorities, namely the Chief Social Worker and the Chief Education Officer. Chief Social Work Officer The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 requires local authorities to appoint a single Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) for the purposes of listed social work functions. Guidance on The Role of Chief Social Work Officer was published by Scottish Government in July It was developed in partnership with local government and is supported by COSLA. This guidance summarises the minimum scope of the role of the CSWO. It aims to assist elected members in ensuring that the role is delivered effectively so that the local authority derives maximum benefit from the effective functioning of the role. The guidance says that the CSWO role was established to ensure the provision of appropriate professional advice in the discharge of a local authority s statutory functions. In doing this it: should assist local authorities and their partners in understanding the complexities and cross-cutting nature of social work service delivery, and also the key role social work plays in contributing to the achievement of a wide range of national and local outcomes. The CSWO also has a contribution to make in supporting overall performance improvement and management of corporate risk; will be held by a person who is qualified as a social worker and registered as such with the Scottish Social Services Council; should promote values and standards of professional practice;

4 work with Human Resources (or equivalent function) and responsible senior managers to ensure that all social service workers practice in line with the SSSC s Code of Practice and that all registered social service workers meet the requirements of the regulatory body; and, ensure that the values and standards of professional practice are communicated on a regular basis and adhered to and that local guidance is reviewed and updated periodically. The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has published The Standard for Chief Social Work Officers (last updated in July 2015). SSSC has also published Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers and Employers (last revised in 2016). Chief Education Officer The Education (Scotland) Act 2016 established the Appointment of Chief Education Officer. This set out how that an education authority must appoint an officer to advise the authority on the carrying out of the authority s functions under the Act and any other enactment. The officer appointed must have such qualifications as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Scottish Ministers; and such experience as the authority considers appropriate in relation to the carrying out of the advisory function mentioned in that subsection. The proposal for a Chief Education Officer originated from the situation, in some authorities, where the integration of children s services with education had led to the appointment of non-education specialists to lead these services. The Scottish Government has said that filling the Chief Education Officer role will have no financial implications for councils because councils will be able to determine that an existing officer meets the statutory requirements. Who could be a Chief Planning Officer? The CPO would not need to be appointed at a specific tier or level within the local authority. That should be at the discretion of each council. The important aspect of the CPO role is that the person in that position is consulted early in the strategic policy/ investment process to ensure that their planning expertise is considered corporately. We envisage that, in line with the Chief Social Worker and Chief Education Officer, the post holder would need to be professionally qualified. This would ensure that they had the skills, knowledge and expertise to advise on the planning implications of policy and investment decisions made by local authorities. The obvious benchmark for this would be membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). RTPI is the professional body for planners. Its object, incorporated in its Royal Charter, is to advance the science and art of planning (including town and country and spatial planning) for the benefit of the public. The RTPI supports the development of a learned and reflective membership through accreditation of planning education, setting professional and ethical standards, and providing a programme of support for professional development. RTPI Membership as a benchmark would mean that CPOs would: 1. Have adequate qualifications and experience in planning issues, through the Institute s Assessment of Professional Conduct process. This is built upon a number of key competencies: professionalism and the RTPI Code of Conduct; the spatial planning context; identifying and analysing issues; gathering appropriate information; identifying and evaluating a course of action; 4

5 initiating and implementing a course of action/ dissemination and application of knowledge; the legal framework; ethical challenges; the political framework; the economic context; and, reflection and review. 2. Be bound by the RTPI Code of Professional Conduct which sets out standards in terms of: competence, honesty and integrity; independent professional judgement; due care and diligence; equality and respect; professional behaviour; and, they remain aware of, and up-to-date on emerging issues through the obligation to complete at least 50 hours of relevant CPD every two years. What duties should a Chief Planning Officer Have? The CPO should ensure the provision of appropriate professional advice in the discharge of a local authority s statutory functions and participation in strategic planning. This should include: the development, consultation on, and delivery of the community plan; the development, consultation on, and delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan; the management and strategic assets under the control of the Community Planning Partnership; and, the management of the community planning partners estates including health, education facilities, childcare, community facilities and roads and transport. What duties should other parts of local authorities have regarding the Chief Planning Officer? The key role of the CPO would be to provide advice to the local authority as a whole on the implications of decisions and investments in the short, medium and longer term. Given this, there should be an obligation for other key officers to consult with the CPO on key strategic decisions, at an early stage. What would the resource implications be? We do not see the establishment of CPOs as necessarily leading to the establishment of new posts, nor do we see any financial implications for councils. This is because councils will be able to determine that an existing officer meets the statutory requirements and could take up the positions. Royal Town Planning Institute Scotland, 18 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 8HQ scotland@rtpi.org.uk Head Office: Royal Town Planning Institute, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL Registered Charity Number: Scottish Registered Charity Number: SC