Local Choices Toolkit
Setting housing and employment targetsUnder the new localism agenda, local authorities are free to set their own housing and employment targets. Our Local Choices Toolkit provides a smart and cost effective was to produce new housing and employment targets. The Toolkit uses state-of-the-art modelling to produce robust figures that will stand up to challenge at examinations and appeals. Most important, the authority is in full control of the assumptions and the process, so targets are driven by its vision for the future of its community.
At the centre of the Toolkit are a demographic model and an economic model. The demographic model can be used on its own to underpin housing targets. Alternatively, it can be linked to an economic model that generates employment numbers, so housing and jobs can be planned together.
The Toolkit produces robust, mutually consistent demand forecasts for housing and jobs, using standard assumptions of underlying factors such as migration and the macro economy. Uniquely, it can also create and test a wide range of alternative scenarios, driven by the authority's own assumptions and policy objectives. The Toolkit can also model supply constraints, including land availability, infrastructure, development viability and workforce skills, to help ensure that targets are deliverable in real life.Using the Toolkit
Authorities can use the Toolkit in different ways, depending on requirements and budgets. They may commission a single run of one or both models, based on their preferred assumptions, or multiple runs to test alternative assumptions and policy assumptions.
The Toolkit is offered jointly by Roger Tym & Partners and Oxford Economics.
Further information
