AMR for 2006-7 now published
Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) has a statutory
requirement under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act
(2004) to submit an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) the Secretary of
State by 31st December each year. The third AMR produced by
B&NES reports on the period 1st April 2006 to 31st March
2007.
The current AMR together with the previous versions can be
downloaded from the right hand side of this page.
Introduction
Review and monitoring are key aspects of planning system. They
are crucial to the successful delivery of the spatial vision and
objectives of the adopted Local Plan and emerging Local Development
Framework and are undertaken on a continuous pro-active basis. By
identifying key outputs and trends, monitoring enables the building
of a comprehensive evidence base against which policies and
implementation mechanisms can be assessed. The AMR
assesses:
i) the implementation of the local development scheme
(LDS) and;
ii) the extent to which plan objectives are being
delivered through the operation plan
polices and resultant development outputs.
The AMR should be read in conjunction with the B&NES Local
Plan (adopted October 2007).
Review of Plan Production Progress
The AMR compares actual document preparation over the year
against the targets and milestones for LDD production set out in
the LDS. The AMR assesses whether the Council has met key targets
and milestones, is on target to meet them, is falling behind
schedule or will not meet them. If the Council is falling behind
schedule or has failed to meet a key milestone, the AMR sets out
reasons for this and identifies the steps to be taken to address
any problems. The LDS may need to be updated in light of this
assessment.
Monitoring of Plan Output
To assess the effectiveness of LDDs a monitoring system based on
a range of output indicators have been developed to judge policy
implementation. This includes:
i) assessing actual progress in terms of spatial
objectives, policies and related targets, and reasons for the pace
of progress;
ii) considering planning policy implementation
against national, regional, local and other targets;
iii) evaluating the effectiveness of existing
polices and any need for adjustment or replacement as a result,
particularly in the context of changing national or regional
policy; and
iv) actions proposed to policies to address the issues
raised.
Effective monitoring requires a set of appropriate indicators
against which to monitor actual progress. There is an
objectives-led approach to local development framework monitoring
which:
i) ensures a clear link from objectives through to
policies, implementation programmes and to output targets and
related indicators;
ii) focuses on key objectives rather than monitoring a
wide range of indicators not directly relevant to policy
performance;
iii) is consistent with wide local authority
monitoring work;
iv) links to key targets and indicators already being
monitored at the regional level;
v) allows transparency and accountability in terms
of delivery; and
vi) facilitates more informed policy and
decision-making.
