Be Prepared; NPF3 is on its way

According to the Scottish Government web site - Link here for a little more detail:

The National Planning Framework (NPF) is a strategy for the long-term development of Scotland's towns, cities and countryside. The NPF is about shaping Scotland's future and is concerned with how Scotland develops over the next 20 years and how to make that possible. The NPF identifies key strategic infrastructure needs to ensure that each part of the country can develop to its full potential.

Planning legislation requires Scottish Ministers to revise the NPF within 5 years of publication. Scottish Ministers have confirmed that work on the preparation of NPF3 will commence in autumn 2012, focusing strongly on economic recovery and the transition to a low carbon economy.

According to a transcript of the 'Local Government and Regeneration Committee 30 May 2012' - link here - the Assistant Chief Planner to the Scottish Government, Graeme Purves stated:

(The Convener:...We need to move on to the national planning framework 2. Perhaps somebody from the Government can set the scene.)

...Thank you, convener. I can do that. The national planning framework is a key document that sets out the Scottish Government’s aspirations for the long-term development of Scotland, including clear priorities for the improvement of national infrastructure. Since the second national planning framework was published in 2009, we have reported annually in June to your predecessor committee, the Local Government and Communities Committee. About a month ago, we contacted the clerks to remind them that June was fast approaching and it was drawn to my attention that this round-table meeting had already been arranged and that it might be the most efficient use of time and resources if we dealt with the national planning framework here today.

We attached a one-page note to the letter that John McNairney sent to the committee on 18 May, which sets out where we are. In his statement to Parliament on 28 March, the Minister for Local Government and Planning announced that we will start work on the revision of the national planning framework in the autumn. That will start with the publication of the statutory participation statement.

We believe that much of the spatial strategy that is set out in NPF2 remains relevant. However, the revision process provides an opportunity to revisit key elements of the strategy, including the suite of 14 infrastructure projects that were identified as national developments in NPF2.

We envisage that NPF3 will take forward the spatial aspects of the Government’s economic strategy, and will reflect in particular its strategic priorities of infrastructure, development and place, and the transition to a low-carbon economy. We envisage that the strategy that is set out in NPF3 will place a strong emphasis on supporting economic recovery and sustainable economic growth.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring effective stakeholder engagement in drawing up NPF3, and where new national developments are proposed, we will seek early engagement with communities, which could be effective.

The dialogue continues and indeed the transcript of the meeting as a whole is very interesting given that it was a round table discussion on planning issues 

It is very important that we take an interest in this Third National Planning Framework, NPF3.  NPF2 had a great deal of impact on issues locally which I will remind us all of in later posts - after the deadline for responses to the MIR for the IMFLDP has passed.