Limehouse Software to help PARSOL Project
Limehouse Software has been selected by the Planning and Regulatory Services On-Line (PARSOL) project to develop a new standard to be used by local authorities to exchange Local Development Framework (LDF) documents with regional and national bodies.
In line with The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, part of a fundamental reform of the planning system, every local authority in England is required to create these documents.
The new schema is part of the larger PARSOL project, which has developed a range of standards, toolkits, specifications, schemas, systems and software to assist Local Authorities in building effective and transparent online planning and regulatory systems.
Limehouse Software will deliver a vendor neutral XML schema for the project, decided through open consultation and describing a complete structure for the storage and transmission of all document information forming part of the Local Development Framework. This will include policies and mapping information using geographic Markup Language (GML).
Martin Howell, Chair of PARSOL Planning, says, “Planning Policy Statement 12 provides specific guidelines for local authorities to follow in order to create Local Development Framework documents and we are confident that by working with Limehouse Software to create a standard electronic format for these documents, we will help simplify this essential process for all local authorities. Limehouse Software has an in-depth understanding of the design and technical needs of local authorities producing and sharing standard information – their involvement with government bodies nationwide means that they come to this project being familiar with our objectives and able to tailor their output accordingly.”
The business objectives for the schema have been agreed and development of the schema by Limehouse Software is underway. The new schema will be available for review by early-adopters at the beginning of January 2006 and will then be available for open consultation through a standards approval process.
Limehouse Software and PARSOL have been working closely with all of the main project stakeholders since the initiation of the project in August 2005 to define and document the business requirements. The stakeholders include the ODPM, the Planning Inspectorate, the Planning Portal, Wandsworth Borough Council, Planning Officers' Society and major planning system vendors and service providers.
Colin Mackenzie, MD of Limehouse Software says, "To date, the main focus of e-Government has been on providing standards for transactional data exchange between government organisations and between government organisations and citizens. This focus has been beneficial, but too much document-based information mandated by government continues to be generated without any standard. By providing an electronic standard for Local Development Framework (LDF) documents, greater cost and resource efficiencies can be made by removing the need for dependency on paper or vendor-specific electronic formats. Government bodies will be able to accept and store the information electronically in order to provide a consistent, searchable dataset for the LDF nationwide."
About Limehouse Software
Limehouse Software’s innovative software products put public sector executives in complete control of document production with automated processes that not only guarantee a highly professional result but also eliminate costs associated with using external graphics agencies. Fulfilling perfectly the sector’s needs, Limehouse Software’s products meet all e-Government requirements by allowing documents to be output easily to web or CD-ROM and by e-enabling the consultation process.
Limehouse Software currently works with over 80 government organisations, helping them manage the collaboration, publishing and online consultation phases of their key corporate documents.
Colin Mackenzie, MD of Limehouse Software, has previously worked with PARSOL to deliver a number of XML schemas including the Land Use monitoring schemas, the Planning enforcement schema and many regulatory services schemas.
About The PARSOL Project
The PARSOL project has been run by a consortium of Local Authorities led by Wandsworth Borough Council and was financed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. PARSOL has been supported by a range of organisations including the Planning Portal, RTPI, CIEH, DSA (LABC), Environment Agency, HSE, IDeA, LACORS, SOCITM, the Planning Inspectorate and the ODPM e-Planning Programme Board.