Frequently asked questions
Listed below are the questions you have been asking us the most about the North East Strategy. If the answer to your question is not here please contact the North East Strategy team.
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1. What is the North East Strategy?
The new North East Strategy will set out how we will achieve sustainable economic growth over the next 15 to 20 years.
It will bring together a number of existing strategies, including the Regional Economic Strategy and Regional Spatial Strategy, as well as new policy areas such as our plans for reducing carbon emissions. The strategy will be a statutory document accompanied by an implementation plan.
It will set out how we will become a more sustainable region by supporting businesses, improving skills levels, and agreeing the location of future housing and other physical developments as well as transport links. It will also describe how we plan to tackle climate change.
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2. Why do we need the North East Strategy?
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3. What is sustainable economic growth?
‘Sustainable economic growth’ is defined in the Policy Statement on Regional Strategies, Department for Communities and Local Government and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (February 2010) as ‘economic growth that can be sustained and is within environmental limits, but also enhances the environment and social welfare, and avoids greater extremes in future economic cycles’ (p 4).
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4. What will happen to the Regional Economic Strategy and the Regional Spatial Strategy?
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5. Who is responsible for developing the North East Strategy?
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6. How are stakeholders being involved?
Stakeholders have been involved in the preliminary development work of the North East Strategy through a number of mechanisms including governance arrangements, Futures and Strategic Direction Setting exercises. To ensure we maintain effective involvement from our stakeholders we will:
- notify and inform stakeholders to raise awareness about the production of the North East Strategy in a timely manner;
- encourage stakeholders to put forward their decisions to influence key decisions that will inform the development of the strategy rather than commenting on proposals when they are fixed;
- consult with stakeholders on informal and formal proposals; and
- provide feedback.
We have consulted on the draft community involvement statement, which explains how we will engage with stakeholders.
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7. What is the timescale for developing the North East Strategy?
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8. What is involved in the evidence gathering phase?
It is crucial that the region has a robust, well developed and sound evidence base to underpin the North East Strategy. This will be tested during the formal development activity through an examination in public.
At the moment, we are working to prepare for the development of the North East Strategy. We are collecting evidence and data from across the region, to give us a solid evidence base that will help us to plan the strategy.
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9. What is the difference between 'informal' and 'formal' work?
The informal stages of work focused on gathering the evidence for the North East Strategy and putting in place mechanisms to help us to work effectively in developing the strategy, such as the community involvement statement.
Formal stages of the development of the North East Strategy began on 1 April 2010 and include all the legislative requirements, alongside continued engagement with stakeholders.
The project plan sets out in detail what falls within each phase.
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10. How will we ensure that the North East Strategy is sustainable?
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11. How can I get involved?
