A business service delivered by Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA) since 2002 has been shortlisted for a national planning award and delegates from Cumbria will be attending a ceremony in London on Thursday (5 February).
The Royal Town Planning Institute makes its Awards each year and the Cumbria Rural Planning Facilitation Service (RPFS) was shortlisted for the RTPI Rural Areas and the Natural Environment Award back in June 2008.
The Service has already won the Northwest regional award and so hopes are high for national recognition for a Service that has helped well over 1000 rural businesses to negotiate the various planning laws and processes that affect rural development.
“The aim of the RPFS programme is to offer advice to businesses before they submit a planning application for a development,” explains Lynne Fox, Business Support and Planning Manager at CREA. “Our network of planning experts can highlight the potential pitfalls as well as the strengths of an idea. The Service means that business owners have free access to this resource of expertise and practical experience before they approach the authorities and they are made aware in advance of all their options and of any planning issues that will affect their ideas.”
The Rural Planning Facilitation Service (RPFS) was initiated following research undertaken by the NWDA in 2000. CREA managed the pilot schemes in Cumbria and Lancashire while the NWDA funded the pilot and then roll-out of the initiative across three counties.
Since the pilot in 2001/02, RPFS has acted as a mediation service for rural development with almost 1200 businesses across rural Cumbria as well as more than 500 in Lancashire and over 200 in Cheshire. CREA works with partners, South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry and, in Lancashire, Rural Futures, to provide the mediation between rural businesses and local authorities across rural Northwest England.
“A national RTPI Award to add to the Northwest one would be a great encouragement for our team of advisers,” said Bob Clark, Chief Executive of CREA, “and the stamp of approval for a practical approach that has helped many Cumbrian businesses to develop successfully over the past seven years. In spite of the commercial doom and gloom, small businesses in rural Cumbria are still keen to grow and develop but they need the support of schemes like this to make sure that any money they spend has the highest return possible, as soon as possible.”
John Dunning, CREA President and a champion of the Planning Facilitation Service from the start, is one of those travelling down to London for the Awards ceremony: “Planning is an important control and guide in rural areas but it can sometimes be a barrier to the diversification that our rural economy needs. The RPFS has had an impressive impact in enabling and encouraging rural businesses to meet the challenges of growth while meeting the valid requirements of our landscape and contributing to improvement in the built environment.”
David Hunter, Head of Rural Development at the NWDA, said: “The planning service has already proved itself as award-winning with regional success and I’m hopeful it can go on to pick up a national award. The planning system can be complex but the Rural Planning Facilitation Service has steered many businesses through it over the years. Through its expert advice, the Service has saved businesses across the Northwest time and money, increasing productivity and adding to their success.”
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