First Brownfield Land Action Plan Completed
The first Brownfield Land Action Plan (BLAP) for the east of England has been completed by Entec for the East of England Development Agency.
The primary objective of the BLAP is to better understand, at a local level, the range of actions and interventions required to ensure the best re-use of previously developed land. This in turn will help to deliver regional strategic objectives in the chosen study areas.
The project is the first in what is likely to be a roll-out of BLAPs in housing land supply priority areas in the east of England and more widely. This is part of the English Partnership’s and Regional Development Agencies’ commitment to delivering both the National Brownfield Strategy and more housing through the Sustainable Communities Plan.
The area of search has concentrated on the towns of Harlow, Peterborough and Stevenage assembling information from the agreed sources on some 150 sites. Stakeholder engagement has involved workshops with local authority planning and regeneration officers, regional agencies and a series of one-to-one discussions with some of the main house-builders active in the region.
The GIS database which has been specially developed by Entec for this study will allow sites to be evaluated and brought forward for development within a phased programme up to 2016. It will be a working tool, available for use by the clients to monitor uptake and update with new site data.
With the study being the first such exercise in the region it has been necessary to consider wider ‘best practice’ issues to inform subsequent BLAPs preparation. It has therefore built upon a pilot conducted in the north-west, incorporating the lessons learnt into a revised methodology. Crucially, the study has considered sustainability factors, alongside the more familiar market supply and site constraint factors, in order to reflect fully Sustainable Communities Plan objectives.
The study comprised:
Entec Project Manager, Peter Grant, said: “This project has definitely been a team effort using Entec’s in-house multi-disciplinary capabilities, including town planners working alongside surveyors, engineers and GIS specialists. Close partnering with the professional and technical staff at EEDA has also been a key to the success of the project.”
Further Information
To speak to the Entec Project Manager, contact Peter Grant. Tel: 020 7843 1446,
email: granp@entecuk.co.uk
For further information about EEDA visit their website
at www.eeda.org.uk or contact Richard Kay, Planning & Infrastructure
Advisor, EEDA. Tel: 01223 484682, email: richardkay@eeda.org.uk
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