The Column with Stuart Barnes, Sefton Council head of economic growth and housing Could you help plan for future?
IT IS with mixed views that I have been putting together the paperwork to recruit to the role of Chief Planning Officer at Sefton Council.
This has been my role for the past three and a half years or so, and what a fantastically rewarding, diverse, challenging and at times tiring role it has been.
Advertising the vacancy closes a chapter in my professional life as I move on within the organisation, but offers a great opportunity for someone else to take over the mantle.
Nationally, the planning system is high profile and locally it is no different.
We have active, interested and educated communities adding to the debate, and a wide range of constructive but challenging views making the Local Plan, neighbourhood plans and planning applications an industry of curiosity, and fertile territory providing fuel for our local media outlets.
Everyone, it seems, holds a view on the judgements and decisions made.
Sefton is a melting pot of development opportunities and environmental constraints, highlighted within the recent Local Plan (adopted in 2017), which identifies a need for over 11,000 houses, for before 2030.
However, Sefton is also a place where our communities hold very dear the environment within which they live, work and play (with good justification).
With our remarkable coast comes tourism, fabulous residential communities, conservation, internationally acclaimed public art and port industry as well as a number of very famous and loyally protected residents (a reference to red squirrels, natterjack toads, great crested newts and pink footed geese here, not Duncan Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish, Tommy Fleetwood example, and Baroness Newlove).
In the north, we have the classic Victorian seaside resort and town centre of Southport, with its grand Victorian boulevard of Lord Street, its marine lakes, beach and Grade IIlisted Southport Pier (the oldest iron pier in the country, standing for over 150 years and, at 1,000m, the second-longest in the country).
In the south, we have Bootle town centre, anchored by the Strand Shopping Centre, gateway to the Port of Liverpool and a wealth of industrial and employment areas linking to Switch island and the wider motorway network.
In between, there are the attractive residential suburbs and village centres of Crosby, Formby, Ainsdale, Birkdale to name but a few.
And, to its eastern extent are Maghull, Lydiate and Aintree.
Alongside its natural environment, it also boasts a rich historic environment, with 25 conservation areas, approximately 560 listed buildings (encompassing over 800 individual buildings), five registered historic parks and gardens and 13 scheduled monuments, as well a 14-mile length of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, running through its final stretch from Lydiate through to the Liverpool dock system.
For me, the past three and a half years have been a roller-coaster journey through the adoption of the Local Plan, a number of extremely fractious and prolonged planning committees where sites identified for development have come forward as planning applications.
There have also been many other opportunities and challenges for the service.
Some of these development sites are being built out, which has changed the dynamic of local interest.
It is certainly the case that these developments will expand the number, range and quality of housing within the borough, as we seek to retain our residents and provide a choice and mix of housing to suit the changing demographics, household formation, population growth, etc, which supports our schools, town, village and local centres, sports clubs and community groups and enables Sefton to evolve in a sustainable way.
Housing has been a high-profile theme, particularly for our building control team, too, who, during this busy period, have not only dealt with the building regulations for many of these developments, but they have also contributed significantly to the work with internal colleagues and external partners associated with the post-Grenfell implications.
Throughout, a strong relationship with (and support of ) exceptional colleagues and extremely supportive and responsible politicians across the planning and building control responsibilities has endured.
It is fair to say that, unlike the residential sector, the big employment sites have not received the same level of traction, and this remains a challenge for whoever takes this role.
The council has a major growth agenda and there are big plans emerging for our town centres and a number of council assets, to which the post holder will be expected to contribute and influence.
Similarly, our shopping centres have not been impervious to the national picture of high street decline, and there remains a major challenge for our partners, landowners, businesses, communities and the council to see how best we can collectively support the renaissance and continued evolution of our town, village and local centres.
Planning is pivotal within these discussions.
We are currently completing a refurbishment of Southport Pier, following an award of funding from the Coastal Communities Fund; we have recently submitted a Stage 2 bid for Townscape Heritage funding for Southport from the Heritage Lottery Fund; we have a current bid to Heritage England for the High Street Heritage Action Zone” funding; nd have previously submitted bids for the Future High Streets Fund for both Crosby and Southport.
This hopefully evidences no shortage of political, partner and community support for a shared ambition of getting the best for Sefton.
There may be some variance about what that outcome may be, this may at times be influenced by national policies of government and locally by finite resources, but that adds to why the role is so stimulating and fulfilling.
What job could rival the diversity of a day in Sefton, where you could spend time breakfast at Liverpool Port, mid-morning looking at estate renewal and regeneration projects in Seaforth, a lunchtime meeting at Aintree Racecourse, followed by a trek through the dunes system at Formby with the National Trust, an afternoon meeting at the Botanic Gardens in Churchtown, followed by a council committee in the austere surroundings of Southport Town Hall at night-time, overlooking the resplendent Victorian boulevard of Lord Street?
Followed by a meal and your preferred tipple to unwind in one of our many top class hostelries?
To me, Sefton is most definitely the jewel in the Liverpool city region’s crown, and luckily there are still lots of great hidden gems that have yet to be discovered.
As someone who has been brought up in the borough, and been employed by the council on three occasions, I can personally testify to the draw which makes this a fantastic place to live and work.
A tremendous opportunity awaits for the right candidate ...
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Stuart Barnes, head of economic growth and housing, on 0151 934 3544 or email stuart.barnes@sefton. gov.uk. Closing date for applications is September 17; interviews, week beginning October 9.