Employment & Skills Plans
To deliver Gloucester City Council's corporate vision- to work with partners and residents to make 'A City that Works for Everyone'- it is important that all those involved in shaping the City play their part in maximising social value and opportunities for local residents.
Section B of the Pre-Submission Gloucester City Plan 2021-2031 - covering Employment Development, Culture and Tourism - identifies that Gloucester's growing economy has the capacity to generate significant local benefit through the development of policy to support certain interventions.
Section B1 of this states:
“For housing development of 10 or more units and major commercial development of 1,000 sq. m or more of new internal floorspace, applicants will be required to submit an Employment and Skills Plan (ESP).
The ESP will be proportionate to the scale of the proposal and identify opportunities for the employment and skills development of local people through the implementation of the proposal. The ESP should address priorities identified and agreed at an early stage through consultation with the City Council and local employment and skills agencies.
The ESP will have targets reflecting industry standard benchmarks, setting out the outcomes expected from the development.”
This policy statement is informed by the Economic Growth Strategy 2019-2022 in the section 'Impact', which:
"Requires applicants seeking planning consent for major housing development and major commercial development to produce Employment and Skills Plans, identifying opportunities for the employment and skill development of local people.”
The City Council has prepared a series of resources to provide advice and guidance for those who are required to submit an Employment and Skills Plan. The City Council will use the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Client Based Approach (CBA), which provides target outputs against a series of employment and skills areas. These outputs have been ratified by the National Construction Skills Academy Group and have been developed and approved by the construction industry.
An applicant for planning permission required to submit an Employment and Skills Plan as part of their proposal will be informed and subsequently engaged by the Economic Development & Regeneration Team.
If you want to learn more about what an Employment and Skills Plan involves, please email eds@gloucester.gov.uk for further information.