Leadership, governance and delivery

East of England Implementation Plan

The draft RES sought partners’ views on an initial delivery framework and proposed actions. Subsequently, the Regional Partnership Group, The East of England Regional Assmebly (EERA), EEDA Board and Strategy Committee have approved a proposal to take forward a joint implementation plan for the regional economic and spatial strategies. The RSS and RES have now been adopted and set the spatial and economic context for sustainable development over the next 15 to 20 years. Given that the spatial strategy and the economic strategy are interdependent, there are clear benefits in preparing a joint RES-RSS implementation plan.

The East of England Implementation Plan will be developed with partners and stakeholders. It will define a prioritised, phased and resourced programme to deliver the two leading regional strategies and aligned local objectives.

The plan will set out an important framework for how the region can best use investment and strategic programmes to support the changes facing localities and communities in the region, and to ensure they continue to thrive, are vibrant and sustainable. Existing prioritisation processes will provide inputs to the plan, as will the strategies and evidence of local authorities and sub-regional partners. Preparation of the plan will require engagement with the private sector and local communities to reflect local and stakeholder needs.

The implementation plan will set out a longer term context for investment across areas such as housing, transport and wider infrastructure and economic development. Early work will inform the East of England Regional Funding Advice (RFA) submission in spring 2009. This process of developing the implementation plan will strengthen regional partnership working and provide important learning in moving towards an integrated single regional strategy after 2010.

The implementation plan will draw on:

  • work led by EERA to develop a regional investment strategy to deliver the growth aspirations of the emerging East of England Plan and related priorities from other regional strategies

  • consultation feedback on the draft RES delivery framework, including the roles and responsibilities of partners in delivering actions

  • new functions and responsibilities set out in the Sub-national Review of Economic Development and Regeneration and Local Government White Paper

  • the work of local strategic partnerships in developing Local Area Agreements and sustainable community strategies

  • Integrated Development Programmes and equivalent growth and infrastructure plans in the engines of growth and key centres for development and change

  • current transport prioritisation work and Regional Funding Advice scheme testing.

EEDA, EERA and the Government Office for the East of England (Go-East) have worked together on early scoping work for taking forward an East of England Implementation Plan. The implementation plan will have a strong spatial focus and demonstrate how investment priorities are linked to wider regional outcomes. The implementation plan will also outline expenditure against identified funding sources, specific project outputs and proposed time frames. A third function of the implementation plan will be to identify critical investment shortfall where more difficult choices may have to be made. In doing so, sub-regional involvement and ownership will be key to developing the plan successfully.

The implementation plan will be subject to a sustainability appraisal (SA)/strategic environmental assessment (SEA). The SA and SEA will be an iterative process informing the draft and final joint implementation plan. A successful implementation plan will provide:

  • a clear programme to deliver the shared objectives and targets of the RES and RSS

  • a compelling business case to investors (across public and private sectors)

  • regional consensus on investment priorities with clear partner responsibility and timetables for delivery

  • be a 'live' document that is updated regularly

  • a clear framework for monitoring performance and managing risk

  • the basis for an East of England RFA submission in spring 2009.

In order to achieve these results, the process of developing the investment plan must:

  • engage a wide range of stakeholders and generate shared ownership of targets and investment priorities

  • build on a robust, shared evidence base and modelling work that supports the priority actions proposed, and the strong work on investment planning at sub-regional level

  • have clear and consistent criteria for adopting priorities into the regional implementation plan

  • be representative of the full range of regional stakeholders and interests

  • be dynamic and identify a critical path for the delivery of RES and RSS objectives over the medium and longer terms (ie to 2031)

  • clearly identify the appropriate spatial level of delivery, with coherent and robust packages for sub-regions that are consistent with Local Area Agreements and are based on robust investment planning mechanisms (eg well-founded Integrated Development Programmes).

What is the timetable for producing the implementation plan?
RSS adopted spring 08
RES submitted to BERR spring 08
RFA guidance summer 08
East of England Implementation Plan development autumn 08
RFA submission spring 09
Draft plan for consultation spring 09
East of England Implementation Plan finalised spring 09

RES and RSS delivery, performance and risk management will benefit from:

  • a new Council of Economic Advisors, bringing leading expertise to strategy and implementation and a better understanding of the effects of the macro-economy on regional performance

  • a stronger economic intelligence network and joint commissioning of economic intelligence - involving the regional intelligence centre, local authorities, business representative organisations, Eastern Region Public Health Observatory and universities - to better understand economic performance and its determinants and wider sustainable development issues

  • integrating RES and Local Area Agreement performance management and information systems and extending this in future to cover Multi Area Agreements

  • work to develop local, sub-regional and regional economic development capacity and capability through EERA and Improvement East, the regional improvement partnership

  • agreed protocols for managing strategic risks such as economic shocks and recession, globalisation and market uncertainties, changing national and international policy and regulation, tightening public and private sector investment, institutional reform, demographic change, climate change, pressures on land, energy and water supply

  • progress in developing a regional infrastructure fund, leveraging major investment from the market.

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Richard Powell OBE, regional director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, at Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk

People’s health and well-being are greatly improved by access to green spaces - not trees in concrete squares, but places to breathe good air and look at wildlife, and where children can play and explore. The East of England is the most important region for biodiversity in England. We need to protect this, and design more green spaces into any development from the start.