Government crest Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

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Laying the foundations for the local public services of the future

Delivering an infrastructure mapping platform

Contents:

  1. Project outputs
  2. Project timeline

The Kent and Medway Infrastructure Mapping Platform (IMP) will be a digital tool consolidating and publishing key local infrastructure data. It will be used to coordinate the planning and delivery of ‘good’ growth – growth that is well designed, sustainable, well connected, future proofed and resilient.

This project, led by Kent County Council, will focus on East Kent (Phase 1) and provide an example for the use of data as a tool for change. East Kent is defined as the districts of Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe and Thanet. Future phases will expand the platform across the remaining areas of Kent.

Most local planning is conducted within individual districts, in isolation from their neighbours. The IMP will provide planning officers with a vital visual and analytical tool for highlighting cross boundary matters, data to understand growth and the provision of infrastructure, and an improved suite of land designation datasets which may affect development, all at a wider geography.

Project outputs

The main output of the project will be the delivery of a dynamic, online strategic planning platform, accessible to users via a secure web portal. Phase 1 will test functionality, explore user requirements and develop design, data and maintenance strategies which can eventually be scaled up to enable a Kent-wide platform.

Once complete, the IMP will be a comprehensive, single source, live-data platform enabling coordinated responses to strategic planning with a robust and up to date evidence base.

Project details

Phase: Beta

Funding granted: £218,200

Partners: Kent County Council (Lead Council), Ashford Borough Council, Dover District Council, Folkestone and Hythe District Council, and Thanet District Council

Project links

Project timeline

March 2023

The project is awarded £218,200 in funding through Round 6 of the Local Digital Fund to begin a beta phase.

April 2023

Before receiving funding through the Local Digital Fund, this beta project had already developed an initial live data input spreadsheet that feeds infrastructure project data into PowerBl business intelligence software. This data has been transformed and combined with other data to produce initial interactive dashboards/reports for core service sectors.

The project has also begun a similar exercise on the mapping side, producing separate interactive maps for core service sectors as well as district-specific maps.

Following a successful application for Round 6, the project has submitted job specifications for three additional posts to greatly assist in the delivery of Phase 1 of the infrastructure mapping platform.