About this guide

The quality of place matters in so many ways. World Class Places, the Government’s strategy for improving quality of place, outlines how the quality of the built environment is an important influence on crime, health, community cohesion and prosperity - and also has a major impact on climate change.

Local authorities are at the heart of creating quality places. The Making Places Network, initiated by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), is a partnership of national and regional advice agencies that works with and supports local leaders and their teams to ensure that local places are planned, designed and developed to create quality places and sustainable communities.

By working in partnership the Making Places Network (MPN) members aim to clarify and simplify local authority access to their individual and collective support.

Achieving quality requires investment in skills. There is a wealth of talent in the South East region yet research and consultation over a number of years has consistently revealed areas of skills gaps and shortages that can act as a break on delivery of the ambitions which local authorities have for their areas. But there are also many good examples of where local authorities have overcome these barriers. There is a clear desire amongst local authorities to learn from peers, exchange practice, and collaborate on common issues – and the current recession has brought an added imperative for such collaboration. As budgets tighten the need to consider effective and efficient ways of transferring knowledge between local authorities and reducing the use of costly consultants becomes ever greater. Not only are the Making Places Network members able to offer a variety of advice to individual or groups of local authorities, but they also support collaboration between local authorities and a culture of learning from practice.