What are strategic issues that could be resolved by accessibility planning?

The strategic assessment should characterise high-level priorities that are a real matter of concern for the area and provide a strategic and political context for accessibility planning efforts. Sometimes these issues can be revealed by producing accessibility maps to key destinations within the area and by analysis of the core indicators. Or it could be that pre-existing priorities can be explained by analysis and either confirmed or rejected.

Strategic priorities can also be informed or steered by reviewing policy documents from Local Strategic Partnerships or other regional government bodies. The area may be the focus of a Health Action Zone or an Employment Zone, for example, and there may already be a variety of partnership activities underway to tackle problems of social exclusion. The examples below show a range of strategic issues where accessibility planning could make an important contribution.

• If a local authority has identified economic regeneration as a key strategic theme for an area, there could be potential for accessibility planning to make a useful contribution to tackling the problems of worklessness in specific locations
  
  
• An authority may have recognised trends towards an aging population and therefore may wish to use accessibility planning to ensure that the elderly population are provided with good access to key services. This will ensure that policies promoting independent living for the elderly are supported
  
  
• The planning arrangements for the relocation of a college of further education may also be a high profile issue for an authority. The accessibility planning process could ensure that the relocation is informed by all analysis, thereby making sure that young people from all sections of the community are able to take advantage of the opportunities provided

In setting out the strategic context, the aim should be to make a shift away from a focus on any one particular cause, such as the withdrawal of public transport services, and to set the partnership’s sights on the key outcomes they would like to achieve. In other words, the strategic overview should identify the problems to be addressed in the area and not the solutions.

To do this you’ll need to uncover problems experienced by local stakeholders and the community as a result of poor or worsening access. This assessment should seek to place accessibility planning within the broader strategic agenda and lay the ground for political support. The results of the strategic assessment should emphasise that there are several organisations with a stake in resolving accessibility problems, and that a partnership approach is required.

For example, employment may be a strategic priority for an area. However, you’ll need further evidence and research to conclude that employment should be a priority area for accessibility planning. It’s likely that you’ll have to demonstrate that accessibility should be a key component of the employment plans, and that people are, or will be, experiencing problems accessing work opportunities from where they live.

It’s also important to note that priorities for accessibility planning may also emerge as a result of talking to local stakeholders about their problems in accessing key services. It may be that very real and urgent problems are identified that aren’t currently a focus of the community strategy agenda, nor of local policymaking. For example, the problems that certain ethnic groups may have in using public transport and accessing key services might emerge from discussions with partners but may not be addressed within any local strategic policy documents.

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