Spatial and Transport
Interlinkages
Spatial issues and transport impact upon the natural and built environment, housing, health, accessibility to services and opportunities and the economy. They are fundamental to the way we live our lives on a daily basis.
Spatial planning is the process for shaping high quality places and managing competing land uses. Spatial planning is a broader concept than land use planning. It operates at the national, regional, and local level and it affects everyone through influencing wider social, environmental and economic objectives and promoting sustainable communities.
Spatial planning provides a robust framework for our ongoing use of environmental resources and encompasses a wide range of issues including transport, housing, the economy, energy generation, dealing with waste, the future of our towns, cities and rural areas, and the potential impact of global issues such as climate change
National Policy Context
The Government’s policy for spatial planning in England is set out in Planning Policy Guidance Notes and Statements which regional planning bodies and local authorities must take into account when preparing their regional plans and local development frameworks.
Click here to see the Government’s Planning Policy Guidance Notes and Statements.
Key Challenges in the East Midlands
The key challenges for the East Midlands are itemised in the spatial objectives of the East Midland Integrated Regional Strategy which are:
- To ensure that the location of development makes efficient use of existing physical infrastructure and helps reduce the need to travel;
- To promote and ensure high standards of sustainable design and construction, optimising the use of previously developed land and buildings;
- To minimise waste and increase the re-use and recycling of waste materials;
- To improve accessibility to jobs and services by increasing the use of public transport, cycling and walking, and reducing traffic growth and congestion.
Most of the region’s cities and towns are relatively self contained and largely vibrant and healthy. However, economic disadvantage is present within many of the region’s towns and cities, across the Northern sub-area where older industries have declined, and through the more isolated and sparsely populated rural areas and on the Lincolnshire Coast. The region is also strongly influenced by neighbouring conurbations in the West Midlands, the North West and South Yorkshire, and the smaller but expanding growth areas focused around Milton Keynes and Peterborough.
Enhancing economic activity and quality of life in the region will require a significant focus on transport infrastructure and addressing accessibility. There will be a growing need to reduce the need to travel and encourage a shift from ever increasing car use towards other more sustainable ways of travelling and a need for investment in the strategic road and rail networks.
The main north-south road routes, M1 and A1, are increasingly congested, whilst poor east-west links remain a key issue. Improvements to the rail network in the region are important, particularly the West Coast, East Coast and Midland Main Lines. The efficient movement of freight is vital to the region’s economy, but measures to support this need to achieve a balance with the effect on communities and the environment. East Midlands Airport is a key national and regional asset, particularly for freight, but its growth has significant environmental impacts that need to be sensitively managed.
Current Position on Regional Policy
As the regional planning body, the East Midlands Regional Assembly prepares a 20 year Regional Spatial Strategy, set within the vision of the East Midlands Integrated Regional Strategy, to submit to Government for formal public consultation and examination.
It also comments on the conformity between the Regional Spatial Strategy and local authority planning documents and certain types of major planning applications, and produces an annual monitoring report outlining progress with the implementation of the Regional Spatial Strategy.
The main focus of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East Midlands is to concentrate development in and around existing urban areas and to support regeneration. The key spatial planning challenges facing the East Midlands up to 2030 are:
- Accommodating economic and housing development and growth in a sustainable way;
- Dealing positively with the causes and effects climate change;
- Delivering ways of meeting the region’s transport and accessibility demands.
The Assembly has produced a draft Regional Spatial Strategy and this was tested by a panel of independent planning inspectors at an Examination in Public in the summer of 2007. After further changes and consultation in mid 2008 the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will publish an approved final Regional Spatial Strategy in late 2008. Soon after the publication of the approved Regional Spatial Strategy the Assembly, with others, will need to review parts of it to take the effects of new Government policy into account.
Click here for further details about the review of the Regional Plan.
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Case Study
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Nottingham Express Transit, Nottingham's state-of-the-art tram system, is a new form of public transport. It reduces congestion and pollution, improves the quality of the urban environment, provides links between disadvantaged communities, job/training opportunities and amenities, and is accessible by all members of the community. It also raises the profile of the city and encourages inward investment. Its performance to date has been very encouraging.
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Links to the relevant sections of the State of the Region Report for 2008
- Location of Development
- Sustainable Design and Construction
- Waste Minimisation and Recycling
- Accessibility and Traffic
Links to the relevant sections of the East Midlands Integrated Toolkit (EMIT)
East Midlands Integrated Toolkit>>
State of the Region>>
Last updated: 29th July 2008