New assignment for CLG and ATLAS on Planning Performance Agreements

Liz is a special advisor to the Tribal  team  which has just been appointed by Communitiesand Local Government and ATLAS (the Advisory Team on Large Applications) to carry out research into the use of planning performance agreements. 

PPAs are a project management tool intended to improve both the quality of development proposals and the decision making process through collaboration.  First piloted in 2006, the actual level of use to date is not fully known.   This research wll seek to establish :

• How much real world experience is there of the PPA approach? 
•  What benefits do the authorities and developers who have used PPAs get from them ?
• What difficulties and limitations have they experienced with PPAs?
• What about the non users - why have PPAs not been used for major and complex applications?  
• What impacts have Inception Days had ?   
•  Is there clear continued support for using PPAs?
• Assuming that there is, what changes to the PPA format  - or to guidance and dissemination  channels - are neede to increase take up and effectiveness?   
• Where new uses are envisaged – for example with regard to renewable energy projects – how might best practice most effectively be disseminated?  

The study is to  completed by the end of March 2010.