Introduction to partner agencies and their planning tools and guidance

living places partner agencies – Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA), Arts Council England (ACE), English Heritage, Sport England, and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), and their guidance are presented on the following pages. They are the government’s advocates for promoting the role of culture and sport in their areas of responsibility and assisting the delivery of facilities and services in places of renewal, growth and development throughout England.

living places partners have already developed a number of planning tools and guidance related to culture and sport. These tools assist planners, developers, local government departments and cultural officers to integrate culture and sport into planning and secure resources through cultural planning. The outcomes will create, revive and sustain communities in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

The purpose of this section of the toolkit is to provide a portal to key guidance documents for each of the cultural sectors. Practitioners will need to be aware of these and, where possible, adopt them into their planning guidance at various levels of policy and implementation. Expert advice on technical matters should always be taken at an early stage. Failure to take such advice at an early stage can, and often does, lead to either delay or increased costs later to rectify deficiencies. Your local authority and the above living places partner agencies will be a good starting point.

The section outlines key elements of the guidance with links to practical examples of delivered schemes to illustrate the guidance in practice. There is sign posting to other resources for further information and advice. The section also gives contact details for the support and advisory services of each organisation.

Links to other guidance and technical advice

There are other organisations, such as the The Theatres Trust, who can offer technical advice on specific type of facilities, uses and issues, such as design and access. For further information on existing guidance please access the Existing planning tools section of the toolkit.

See also other relevant toolkits for culture and sport planning and delivery:

• HCA-ATLAS Guide for Large Scale Development created to guide stakeholders through the town planning process in relation to large, complex or strategic development projects.
• Culture South East Cultural Framework and Toolkit for Thames Gateway North Kent created to help deliver cultural projects in the sub-region.
• I&DeA Culture and Sport Improvement Toolkit, created to support local authority improvement through a new approach to self-assessment and improvement planning.
• PAS Infrastructure Planning and Delivery is part of a resource book for local authorities and delivery partners created to help them fulfill their infrastructure planning requirements for local spatial planning and a soon to be published Steps Guide to Infrastructure Planning.
• SECO Culture and Sport Toolkit for Local Area Agreements created to support Local Strategic Partnerships to embed culture and sport within their Local Area Agreements.
• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), Spatial planning for health (to be completed in 2011)
• DCMS, (forthcoming), CASE: Culture and Sport Evidence Programme

A list of other living places partner resources can be found in living places resources.