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CASE STUDIES
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Local Authority Local Plans Online White Paper
Customer Name: Eastdunbartonshire Council
Project Title: Local Plan Online
Timescale: 3 Months
On Time: Yes
On Budget: Yes
It has been the stated aim of both UK and Scottish government to enable delivery of public services by electronic means by 2005 where practical to do so. The year 2005 has passed and there are now numerous web sites through which citizens and business are able to either fully or partially transact with government.
The local government administered planning function has been 'electronically enabled' to a greater or lesser extent by most UK local authorities. One aspect of this function is the local planning function administered by local government. Traditionally the local plan has existed as a substantial document that sets out the context, policies, constraints and development opportunities for a local planning authority area using detailed cartographic depiction. As such the traditional format is ill suited to electronic communication and consumption.
The local plan function requires that local plans be periodically reviewed and updated. A process that involves a significant degree of consultation with various stakeholders and interested parties via circulation of a draft proposed plan.
Figure 1 - Tab interface enables convenient cross referencing between designated local plan areas depicted by the map view to the local policy statements pertaining to it and full text content of the local plan.
As of January 2006, East Dunbartonshire Council was one of 5 Scottish local authorities to have implemented an interactive local plan that does not resort to downloading sometimes bulky PDF files. East Dunbartonshire's view from the outset was that the electronic version of its local plan should be developed in such a way that it would enable new more effective and efficient ways of communicating its local plan and in turn engaging consensus. It was important therefore not to pursue a route that merely created an electronic version of a traditional paper based local plan document.
Usability - an essential prerequisite
In its traditional form a local plan is a heavily cross referenced document that uses various codes to cross reference local plan maps with policy statements and location specific objectives. As such its reader normally has to consult across a number of different pages. Maps contained within the document are only ever as up to date as the date of printing or copying as a PDF file. By necessity the cartographic maps are fixed in representation, only depict local plan policy classifications and do not allude to other information that could aid more effective consensus.
Figure 2 - the local plan has been designed to be part of a wider information resource accessed through the top level tabs. A key feature of the application is that the subject geographical area for one tab topic is retained when the user moves to another tab topic.
East Dunbartonshire recognised that the investment and development of GIS for internal use could provide the basis for a much more effective means of communicating their local plan. However they also recognised that design of a user friendly interface would be an essential prerequisite to such an initiative.
East Dunbartonshire engaged IME (UK) Ltd to develop and implement an application would be both easy to use and highly informative.
IME's approach centres around use of a 'selection tab' interface that allows the user to move easily from a map view of designated local plan areas to both the full text content of the local plan and specific policy statements pertaining to designated local plan areas depicted by the map view - see figure 1. IME and East Dunbartonshire were of the view that this approach was preferable to that of using separate pop up windows to display associated text as it avoids the problem of a separate browser window disappearing behind other current session windows and of associated text becoming out of sync with the current map view.
Informed judgement on planning matters will improve the planning process
East Dunbartonshire believe that the local plan should not exist as a standalone document that cannot be readily related to other relevant information resources. Recognising that the planning function needs to take cognisance of many interrelated factors, East Dunbartonshire wanted an application that would allow stakeholders and other involved parties to make informed judgements with respect to planning matters.
Figure 3 - new redline functionality that will allow users to post annotated comments back to East Dunbartonshire Council.
The approach to achieving this objective has been to include the interactive local plan as a component of a wider information resource that allows the user to move from the local plan into other topic areas pertaining to exactly the same subject area of geography. At the time of writing these other topic areas extended to community facilities, provision of education, gritting routes, council ward electoral areas and current planning applications as a new pending content item. Figure 2 illustrates how once the user has zoomed into a subject area of interest they can then ascertain further information about the same subject area of interest via higher level tabs.
In the case of the currently developed planning application function, the map view depicts current planning applications; the user then selects an application of interest to ascertain its details. In future developments of the system the user will also be able to navigate to application details from an address or name entry without needing to go through the map.
Map viewer functionality
The application's map viewer functionality has been implemented using the Autodesk MapGuide server version 6.5 with OpenGIS WMS standards. By using e-GIF compliant 'iframes', refreshes of the map view, as the user zooms and pans, are restricted to the map view canvas area thereby alleviating any need to refresh the entire browser window.
For the East Dunbartonshire application the map data resides as ESRI shape files linked to Oracle database records. This has proven to be a congenial arrangement for East Dunbartonshire as the same data which they create, collate and maintain using ESRI desktop GIS can be accessed by both the application and their own Intranet GIS. The latter also using the same Autodesk MapGuide server core to provide internal staff with a higher functionality ActiveX map viewer in a desktop browser.
In addition it ultimately provides users with a 'redline' function allowing users to create their own map annotation thus supporting and encouraging feedback.
Figure 3 illustrates this implementation.
Application deployment
The initial application is being hosted offsite on East Dunbartonshire's behalf by IME. Although necessitating data duplication, this arrangement has allowed East Dunbartonshire to progress development of the application, demonstrate its functionality and enable initial operational use in order to prove the application's business case without firstly needing to satisfy internal security requirements.
Once adequate security measures are in place the application will be migrated 'in house' to become an integral component of East Dunbartonshire's overall delivery of electronic services. As such it will then link to East Dunbartonshire's Corporate Address Gazetteer, become a component of an online property search function and also of an online planning application submission function. The latter function will utilise the redline functionality and Ordnance Survey MasterMap to provide users with a tool that will allow them to create their own planning application extract maps. In addition, the application will also incorporate reporting on a variety of other council areas for example abandoned vehicles, lighting/roads faults and linkages through to the Council Payments site.
Satisfying Pendleton
Planning consultants Pendleton and Associates have devised criteria to assess the relative capabilities of different aspects of the planning process that are able to be implemented online. Local planning functions as administered by local planning authorities in England and unitary authorities in Wales and Scotland have been subjected to 21 criteria, of which 4 relate to provision of the local plan. All English, Welsh and Scottish local authorities were appraised in January 2006. East Dunbartonshire are one of the six Scottish local authorities that were able to satisfy each of the four Pendleton criteria relating to local plan provision.
In conclusion
The application has demonstrated to East Dunbartonshire Council a potentially more effective means of communicating, engaging and ultimately obtaining consensus on matters relating to their local plan. East Dunbartonshire and IME believe that their approach offers distinct advantages over others through a combination of an intuitive user interface and linkage with other information resources.
Looking to the future it is expected that the application will become a core component of East Dunbartonshire's electronic service delivery through providing a means of interlinking a number of important information resources for the benefit of both internal staff and external clients who have an interest in the planning process and other council services.
Further References:-
1. Survey of planning websites in Scotland by Peter Pendleton and Associates Ltd http://www.pendleton-assoc.com
2. Scottish Executive E-pan http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20324/47402
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“Our aim is to provide an access route to integrated information rather than having to go through multiple systems, this is a significant challenge throughout the Council but our partnership with IME has really helped us achieve this particular element of our integration aims”
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