What is the purpose of this guidance paper?

The purpose of this guidance paper is to ensure that a consistent analytical approach to assessing community needs and developing options is adopted. This will facilitate comparability and overall network and investment planning.

It is though important to note that, whilst the paper establishes a consistent analytical approach to conducting CNAs, it generally avoids defining a formulaic approach to carrying out each individual CNA. Potential data sources and indicators are outlined in the sections which follow, but each island and peninsular community has its own unique characteristics and it is the role of the party carrying out the CNA to tailor the analysis to the community in question.