Digital mapping service used to help shape Central Beds Council local plan
A digital maps service is being used to identify potential brownfield and greenfield sites for Central Beds Council’s new local plan.
PlaceMaker, a digital local plan platform, has been used to assess submitted sites and identify additional development opportunities with land parcels analysed based on access to local services and infrastructure.
The technology was introduced to meet the council’s planning challenges which means identifying enough suitable sites to support its new local plan.
It was also introduced to mitigate issues around infrastructure which was a key concern for residents, ward members, and town and parish councils during the previous local plan process.
The council explained it did not have a clear view of infrastructure capacity across the area ahead of the new local plan, which made it harder to judge which sites were supported by infrastructure capacity.
To improve the process the council used PlaceMaker to assess all land parcels across the authority creating evidence to support proactive site identification and site assessment.
As part of the pilot, the council used the platform to run a brownfield call for sites and a subsequent greenfield call for sites.
The new process has enabled the council to develop an infrastructure opportunity score (IOS) that could be applied to every Land Registry parcel in Central Bedfordshire.
The score combined information based on local services, including:
> Public transport
> Education
> Health
> Retail and services
> Employment
> Community facilities
> Leisure and open space.
Access to infrastructure was assessed using walking or driving catchments.
The council originally planned to contact landowners before the call for sites opened. Due to procurement delays and challenges sourcing some datasets, the council decided to delay proactive engagement until after the call had closed. Test queries returned sites allocated in the previous local plan.
It has since completed its proactive site search and identified additional sites for further investigation. In many cases, these had already been submitted, allocated or were progressing through the planning process. This helped confirm the approach was working.
The council also identified savings from digital site submission, reducing the need for manual mapping, data handling and administration.