Worked example — ten outcomes for a growth-corridor SDS

How to read this

Each block is one outcome. The outcome is the change you would observe. The measure is what you collect. The indicator is how you report it. If the dataset column would be blank, the outcome is not yet monitorable. Leave it out of an adopted SDS.

Print the one-page template if you need the empty grid. This page is the filled example.

1. Economy that reaches beyond the core

Outcome. The strategy area's innovation and everyday economy has the space, homes and connections it needs. More research turns into production and skilled jobs. The gains reach market towns and outlying communities, not only the core cities.

Measure. Employment land take-up by location; jobs by workplace; business births outside the core.

Indicator. Share of new strategic employment floorspace and jobs delivered outside the largest urban centre in the strategy area.

Dataset. LPA monitoring / VOA / ONS BRES.

2. Skills and routes into work

Outcome. People have clear routes into fairly paid work in growing sectors and in the everyday economy. Young people can build a career locally. Where someone starts does not limit where they get to.

Measure. 16-24 destinations; vacancies in named growth sectors filled from within the strategy area; pay in the everyday economy.

Indicator. Share of school and college leavers in sustained education, apprenticeship or employment, by district.

Dataset. DfE / LEO / ONS ASHE.

3. Homes that stay affordable, with infrastructure from the outset

Outcome. Everyone can access a high-quality home that remains affordable across generations. Social infrastructure (school, surgery, shop, open space) is within an easy walk of new homes and is provided from the outset, not years after occupation.

Measure. Affordable completions by tenure; median house-price to earnings; date social infrastructure opens relative to first occupations.

Indicator. Percentage of completions that are affordable, by tenure; months between first occupation and the first school, surgery or shop opening in each broad location.

Dataset. MHCLG live tables / LPA AMRs / authority education and ICB returns.

This is the row that most often fails in practice. If you cannot measure "from the outset", do not write it as an outcome. Write the trigger (for example, "no more than 200 occupations before a primary school is open") as the indicator.

4. Healthier, longer lives

Outcome. People live longer, healthier lives. The gap in healthy life expectancy between the best and worst parts of the strategy area narrows. Children get the best start. Care stays close to home.

Measure. Healthy life expectancy by district; children in low-income households; GP list size per FTE.

Indicator. Change in the healthy-life-expectancy gap across the strategy area, reported each two years.

Dataset. ONS / OHID / NHS.

5. Movement that prefers public transport and walking

Outcome. People and goods move easily between homes, jobs and services. New growth is planned so that public transport and active travel are the default, not a later retrofit.

Measure. Homes completed within a stated walk of a frequent bus or rail service; mode share for new developments; HGV routing on strategic roads.

Indicator. Percentage of new homes in broad locations that meet the stated public-transport access standard in the year they complete.

Dataset. DfT / operator data / LPA travel plans.

6. Nature, landscape and heritage

Outcome. People and nature thrive together. Landscapes, productive farmland and heritage are enhanced, not merely avoided. Every community is connected to high-quality green and blue space.

Measure. Hectares enhanced or created toward LNRS priorities; accessible green space within a stated walk; designated-heritage at-risk entries.

Indicator. Hectares delivered against named LNRS measures; percentage of new homes within the stated walk of accessible green space.

Dataset. LNRS / Natural England / Historic England / LPA GI assessments.

7. Climate resilience and water security

Outcome. Communities are resilient to climate change. Water supply and wastewater capacity are secure for the strategy period. Places are designed to last.

Measure. Homes permitted in Flood Zone 3; supply-demand balance in the relevant WRMP; wastewater headroom in the DWMP.

Indicator. Whether the SDS housing trajectory still fits the water-company WRMP and DWMP at each annual report; share of new homes outside the highest flood-risk bands.

Dataset. Environment Agency / water company WRMP and DWMP.

If the trajectory does not fit the water plan, the outcome has failed. Do not leave this as a qualitative hope.

8. Net-zero and circular use of resources

Outcome. The pattern of growth uses clean power, cuts wasted materials and treats land, water and energy as finite.

Measure. Operational and embodied carbon of strategic sites; residual waste per household; renewable generation connected in the strategy area.

Indicator. Residual household waste (kg per household); estimated operational carbon of new homes against the stated SDS standard.

Dataset. DEFRA waste / EPC register / NESO / LPA energy statements.

9. Enduring places

Outcome. Growth creates beautiful, lasting places that improve daily life and reflect local identity. Design is not left entirely to later local-plan codes.

Measure. Local plans and design codes adopted for SDS broad locations; resident satisfaction with new places; audit against the SDS design outcomes.

Indicator. Number of broad locations with an adopted design code or equivalent before a stated occupation threshold.

Dataset. LPA / Office for Place or equivalent audit.

10. Stewardship and a visible account

Outcome. People can shape decisions, share in the benefits of growth, and see whether the SDS is on track. Trust is treated as something the monitoring report has to earn.

Measure. Consultation reach by district; AMR published by a stated date; actions taken when an indicator fails two years running.

Indicator. On-time publication of the annual monitoring report, with a written action against every failed indicator.

Dataset. Strategic planning authority.

What to strip out before you adopt

• Sentences that name a project or a preferred settlement form. An SDS outcome is about the strategy area, not a scheme.
• Outcomes with no dataset. They belong in the vision, not in the monitoring chapter.
• More than ten. If you need an eleventh, merge two.