What you need to do to deliver

Principles

Delivering culture and sport interests will have the best chance of success if cultural and sport planning is guided by the following principles:

• Adopts an inclusive partnership approach
• Bases decisions on systematic evidence
• Aligns decisions with strategic priorities and plans
• Fits planning for culture and sports into the wider community services and infrastructure planning process and timeframe
• Prioritises schemes that have a high likelihood of implementation, and continuing sources of revenue support.

How to use this section

The guidance sets out a 5-stage process with actions and key points of consideration for practitioners. It has been created to cover cultural and sporting projects, policies or programmes of all types and size. When more detailed analysis is required, as signposted throughout the guidance, reference should be made to the further advice at the end of each stage.

Culture and sport planning is a continuous iterative process. Different activities and key players will relate to each other through the planning and development processes in varying ways. So this process has been set out to allow you the flexibility to access it and take respective actions at any point according to your circumstances.  

There is some overlap between actions within the key stages. In particular as part of the visioning process, assessing the cultural and sporting needs of communities may form a part of the evidence base. Similarly identifying risks, project viability and key monitoring indicators should be considered in the initial planning stages. 

Links to other guidance and technical advice

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 either to delay or to increased costs later to rectify deficiencies. Your local authority and the Tools and guidance section will be a good starting point:  

• Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)
• Arts Council England (ACE)
• English Heritage
• Sport England
• Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)

There are other organisations, such as 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 Tools and Guidance 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 fulfil 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.
• The Theatres Trust The Theatres Trust is the statutory consultee on planning applications for theatres.