Equality Impact Needs Assessment The Diversity Promise – Making it Happen! The Bournemouth Local Plan – Town Centre Area Action Plan (AAP) Title of Policy/Service/Project Planning Policy, Planning and Transport Service Unit Lead Responsible Officer and Job Title Members of the Assessment Team: Caroline Peach, Principal Planning Officer Catherine Miles, Planning Officer Caroline Whiteman, Planning Officer 11th January 2013 Date assessment completed: About the Policy/Service/Project: What type of policy/service/project is this? (delete as appropriate) Existing New/proposed Changing What are the aims/objectives of the policy/service/project? (please include here all expected outcomes) The aim of the AAP is to set the planning framework for the future development of Bournemouth Town Centre up to the year 2026. It includes a vision, 11 objectives and numerous policies that will guide development and decision making on planning applications. The AAP has now reached its final stage in its process. It had been refined through several stages of consultation to a Pre-Submission document which was submitted to the Secretary of State in November 2011. A full EINA was carried out in support of the AAP when it was submitted to the Secretary of State, although the issues were being monitored and screened through the plan preparation process. Following the formal public examination in May 2012 by an independentiInspector, further amendments have been recommended by the inspector, but these do not significantly affect the content of the AAP as they relate to equality issues. 1 EINA prepared at submission stage is available: http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/PlanningBuildings/Planning/Policy/Local/TCAAP/TCAAPFiles/Library/AAP-Examination-Library.pdf (Document no. DD59) The AAP provides more detail in relation to the Town Centre and must be consistent with the recently adopted borough wide document, Local Plan – Core Strategy. The AAP promotes a sustainable economy, society and environment for the Town Centre by bringing together policies that seek to:  promote local character, high quality design and public realm;  balance the needs of different types of transport within the Town Centre, ensuring that it is more „walkable‟;  promote mixed use development that supports diversity, provides a focus for large scale retail and leisure, encourages more people to live in the Town Centre and promotes a balance of evening and night time uses for everyone to enjoy  promote the development of 31 identified sites. These are followed by a Delivery and Monitoring section which includes a table of measures proposed for implementing and monitoring each objective in the document, risks associated with their delivery and contingency plans. Are there any associated services, policies or procedures? Yes/No If „Yes‟, please list below: The Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Plan – Core Strategy List the main people, or groups of people, that this policy/service/project is designed to benefit and any other stakeholders involved? It is a statutory objective when preparing a planning policy document to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, which includes social considerations. Therefore all groups and individuals, whether borough residents, visitors or local businesses will be influenced by the AAP policies. The AAP has been linked closely to the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS), which is prepared by the 2026 Partnership. One of the central aims of the AAP is to assist in delivering the objectives of the SCS, which includes a range of equality goals. A full range of individuals and organisations have been involved in the consultation process, as described in the following section. 2 Will this policy/service/impact on any other organisation, statutory, voluntary or community and their clients/service users? Yes, as indicated above. Consultation, Monitoring and Research Where there is still insufficient information to properly assess the policy, appropriate and proportionate measures will be needed to fill the data gaps. Examples include one-off studies or surveys, or holding informal consultation exercises to supplement the available statistical and qualitative data. If there is insufficient time before the implementation of the policy to inform the EINA, specific action points will be need to be clearly set out in the action plan. Steps must include monitoring arrangements which measure the actual impact and a date for a policy review. Consultation: What involvement/consultation has been done in relation to this (or a similar) policy/service/project and what are the results? Consultation has already taken place with stakeholders and members of the public on the document at all main stages. Early involvement with key stakeholders, followed by extensive public consultation during the Issues and Options, Detailed Options, Preferred Options and Submission stages. The results of these consultations have been summarised in reports that were presented to the Local Development Framework (LDF) Steering Group and published on the council‟s website. They were also presented in summary form in the Regulation 30 Consultation Statement, which formed part of the submission of documents and information to the public examination. The recommended “main modifications” proposed following the examination were also the subject of 6 weeks public consultation. Several methods of consultation were used. The Council put press releases in the Daily Echo and Advertiser and also contacted people and organisations on its LDF consultation database by email and letter. The information and consultation documents 3 were also published on the website for statutory periods of at least six weeks. The consultation was „live‟ as it included an online portal for people to make comments directly through the website or alternatively they could respond by letter, post or email. Documents and response forms were put in all public libraries in the Borough. In addition, events took place to raise awareness of the consultation and increase public and stakeholder involvement, such as meetings with local groups representing religious, age and disability issues. The organisations that have been directly consulted included over 4,000 bodies and individuals. The organisations consulted included all Bournemouth 2026 Partnership organisations. The membership of the Partnership is revised every three years and developed to ensure that under-represented groups are engaged. The list of bodies consulted was also reviewed prior to each consultation to ensure that it included bodies representing all of the equality strands, including the new ones covered under the Equalities Act 2010. The wide range of consultation methods also helped to ensure that these groups were reached. If you have not carried out any consultation, or if you need to carry out further consultation, who will you be consulting with and by what methods? No further consultation is required. Monitoring and Research: What data, research and other evidence or information is available which is relevant to this EINA? Research has been undertaken and data collected from a range of sources in addition to the consultations carried out and this has supported both the AAP and the recently adopted Core Strategy. These have included local sources such as the SE Dorset Local Transport Plan Accessibility Strategy, surveys on local travel patterns, housing and employment surveys and data and local evidence on health issues. There are also locally produced publications on age-related issues, for instance Age Friendly Bournemouth. National sources of available information and data on issues that affect the strands of diversity have included publications on equality-related issues, such as Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review, Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post-2010 and Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods. 4 Is there any service user/employee monitoring data available and relevant to this policy/service/project? What does it show in relation to equality groups? The AAP affects all groups and individuals and no group is over or under represented by the policies within it. Evidence gathered using Mosaic indicated that almost half of the Town Centre population (46.64%) is classified as “transient, singles whose key features are being young, living in low quality flats in seaside towns with a low educational attainment, either employed in seasonal jobs or within service industries, or unemployed, and with low car ownership.” The AAP includes policies that seek to provide opportunities to provide a better balance of population and to increase investment and improve the standard of living and quality of life within the Town Centre. Assessment of data based on the Central Ward, which covers much of the AAP area, highlighted the need to address issues relating to the needs of the elderly, children, disabled people and those with mental health problems. AAP policies relating to design, public realm and transport in particular seek to address the issues highlighted. If there is a lack of information, what further information do you need to carry out the assessment and how are you going to gather this? N/A Assessing the Impact Actual or potential benefit Age Disability Policies seek to address all stages of life. Policies seek to help ensure access for disabled people through public realm improvements and support for provision of shop mobility facility. Actual or potential negative outcome No perceived negative outcome. The AAP has the potential to bring many benefits to residents and visitors from all equality groups. The assessment has identified a potential adverse effect involving conflict between cyclists and some disabled people in new transport schemes and improvements. Potential negative impacts have been identified for 5 some disabled people and other vulnerable and mobility restricted groups by moving public car parking spaces around the Town Centre. Potential negative impacts for some disabled people and people with mobility problems that could arise from retail growth and the Town Centre‟s increased competitiveness as a retail centre. Gender Policies seek to address actual and perceived issues of safety and security. No perceived negative outcome. Gender reassignment No perceived impact. No perceived negative outcome. Pregnancy and Maternity The aim of improving the public realm and providing No perceived negative outcome. shop mobility could be beneficial for people during pregnancy and when caring for young children Marriage and Civil Partnership No perceived impact. No perceived negative outcome. Race No perceived impact. No perceived negative outcome Religion or Belief No perceived impact. No perceived negative outcome. Sexual Orientation No perceived impact. No perceived negative outcome. Lower income socio-economic groups could potentially be positively affected by the policies, for example through improved accessibility to jobs No perceived negative outcome. Any other factor/ groups e.g. socioeconomic 6 status/carers etc and services which could help those on lower incomes who may not have access to private transport. Human Rights No perceived impact. No perceived negative outcome Stop - Any policy which shows actual or potential unlawful discrimination must be stopped, removed or changed. If impacts have been identified include in the action plan what will be done to reduce these impacts, this could include a range of options from making adjustments to the policy to stopping and removing the policy altogether. If no change is to be made, explain your decision: 7 Action Plan Include:  What has/will be done to reduce the negative impacts on groups as identified above.  The arrangements for monitoring the actual impact of the policy/service/project Issue identified Action required to reduce impact Timescale Responsible officer Which Business Plan does this action link to e.g. Service Equality Action Plan/Team Plan Potential adverse effect involving conflict between cyclists and some disabled people in new transport schemes and improvements. Potential negative impacts have been identified for some disabled people and other vulnerable and mobility restricted groups by moving public car parking spaces around the Town Centre. These will be managed at the detailed design stage of such schemes. As schemes come forward during the plan period Mike Holmes Planning and Transport Implementation of AAP policies for Shopmobility, Design Quality, Public Realm, and Signs and information, among other policies, seek to reduce this negative impact and provide benefits from reducing car use. As schemes come forward during the plan period Mike Holmes Planning and Transport Potential negative impacts for some disabled people and people with mobility problems that could arise from retail growth and the Town Centre‟s increased competitiveness as a retail centre. Implementation of introduction of a Shopmobility facility. As early as possible in the plan period Mike Holmes Planning and Transport 8 Please complete this summary of the EINA to enable the results to be published on the website. Name of Policy/Service: The Bournemouth Local Plan – Town Centre Area Action Plan (AAP) Date of Assessment: 11th January 2013 Name of lead officer: Caroline Peach Job title of lead officer: Principal Planning Officer Summary of Key findings: Summary of Future actions: The AAP affects all groups and individuals and has implications for age, disability, race, religion and some socio-economic groups. However the aim of the AAP is to improve the Town Centre for all people in line with its stated vision and objectives and the specific policies all help toward these aims. Implementation of the AAP policies once adopted by the Council. 9