Government backed guidance will be launched tomorrow, Tuesday 31 March, to help regeneration professionals use culture and sport as catalysts for renewal. The Culture, Sport and Planning Toolkit (CSPT), available at www.living-places.org.uk, sets out a simple five stage process to build culture and sport into places. It includes a wealth of information, best practice case studies and planning tools. Users can learn from the experience of others and base their own development plans on the processes and principles that have succeeded elsewhere.

Roy Clare, CBE, Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and Chair of the Living Places Partnership behind the toolkit, said:
“Built environment professionals and people working in culture and sport want the same thing; healthy, prosperous, vibrant places where people trust their neighbours and feel proud of their neighbourhood. But for too long, culture, sport and planning have spoken different languages. This toolkit is an online translator to break down historic barriers. It will help culture, sport and planning work more closely together to build better places for the future.”

Gideon Amos, OBE, Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association, which built the toolkit, said:
“This toolkit will help build culture and sport into the planning process from the start, so that new places and renewed places will have the infrastructure they need. By using the simple five step guide in the toolkit, planners, developers and regeneration professionals will be able to build the benefits of culture and sport into their plans in the right way and at the right time.”

Max Steinburg, Chief Executive, Elevate said
“The toolkit will bring together existing work in a way that is of practical use to planners and regeneration officers, signpost us to funding and other support, and continue to advocate for culture's contribution to regeneration”.

There is widespread acceptance that cultural and sporting facilities are important in new communities and regenerated areas. Aside from their intrinsic value they create a sense of place, contribute to the economy and bring people together around shared interests. But while sport has certain powers in the planning system, there is no clear statutory role for culture. Consequently, people working on the built environment and people working in cultural agencies are operating in separate spheres.

The toolkit brings these two professional communities together. It will help built environment professionals find new ways to deliver sustainable communities through culture and gather the evidence they need to recommend culture-led plans for regeneration. It will also help local government cultural officers navigate the planning system, so that they can make the case for museums, libraries, arts and sports facilities in the right way and at the right time.