Focus on economic growth reinforced through party Manifestos

We approach the Scottish Parliamentary elections and the parties are publishing manifestos. APTSec was thinking this morning about posting on how each party will approach planning. (The SNP manifesto is not yet published but readers of the blog will be conversant with official Government statements on planning reforms to date).

The Lib Dems' statements on planning include:

• Support a flexible and well-resourced planning and development regime to help speed up consents, reflect local views and allow quicker decisions for businesses who want to invest in Scotland. We will make economic development a material consideration in the planning process to help get development projects off the ground more quickly.

• Using planning regulations to create an innovative Home On The Farm scheme for more affordable homes from disused and underused farm buildings, giving farmers a new income, ensuring farm succession and providing homes for local people.

• Encourage the use of feed-in tariffs to benefit people who install small-scale renewable electricity generation and change planning regulations to support these and renewable heat measures in homes and businesses.

• Provide much-needed local housing by bringing Scotland’s 70,000 empty homes back into use, giving housing associations more flexibility and helping meet rural needs through community land trusts.

• Work with stakeholders to review the current forestry target and agree an ambitious forest planting strategy. We will increase annually the net productive forest cover and support our timber industries. We will, however, avoid disproportionate burdens on communities and protect good agricultural land.

• Work with communities and developers and operators to guarantee fair and meaningful community benefits from commercial renewable energy developments, including allowing communities that host projects to keep the additional business rates they generate. We will seek to combine this with our proposals for community land trusts, so land and housing can be bought and paid for by the energy generated within the development.

• Strengthen the Land Use Strategy with clear objectives and actions to fight climate change and help manage the competing demands on Scotland’s natural environment. This will include action to restore and protect Scotland’s valuable peatlands and woodlands and a sensible siting strategy for new renewable energy developments.

• Develop community land trusts to secure and develop land within remote or rural communities providing affordable local homes to help keep rural areas vibrant.

The latest from Labour covered by 'Planning Daily' (By Jamie Carpenter Thursday, 07 April 2011) link here

Extract:

"The party’s 2011 election manifesto, published yesterday, says that the party would carry out a "health check" on recent changes to Scotland’s planning system, "updating the National Planning Framework with wide input from industry to ensure that it is delivering for Scotland".

The party’s manifesto says that economic benefit "should be one for the key considerations when making planning decisions". "We want to see a culture in planning that tries to assist economic growth and sustainable development, while also taking into account other factors, such as the impact on communities," the manifesto adds.

The manifesto also says that the Scottish Labour Party would create a new "city growth fund" to support Scotland’s cities, alongside "new powers and responsibilities to drive growth".

The party would also "ensure that local authorities can retain a proportion of all business rates raised through increased economic activity," the document says."


I have had a quick look through and other statements made in the Labour Manifesto include

• Our aim is to ensure the very best standards of architecture and building design are met, in school-building projects and all new government-funded building programmes. We will seek to strengthen the skills and capacity of local authorities to promote good design, and ensure that quality and excellence are at the heart of the planning system;

• We will therefore prioritise the creation of green jobs in renewable technologies – aiming for up to 60,000 by 2015 – and will speed up the granting of planning consent and build export opportunities to achieve this;

• We will encourage the development of marine technology by doubling the value of the Saltire prize to £20 million. Any application for consent to new nuclear capacity will be considered on its merits, in terms of safety, environmental impact, the local community and other planning considerations.