Post Plan Award; Where do the public stand now?

Further to the announcement that the HwLDP has been commended at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning, well...

Regular readers may have a vague memory of my approach to the previous  Minister for LG and P, Aileen Campbell in an email saying:

...Dear Minister

We have been totally overwhelmed by our experiences of planning over the last few years.  One of our members was in touch with PAS recently and Mr David Wood at PAS mentioned that you were keen to find out how the new planning act was performing.  For some time now we have felt that our input into the planning system is not meaningful and carries little weight.  The new planning reforms have not improved matters and in fact in our particular circumstances have made things worse. 

We desperately want to take a constructive part in the development of our community but feel marginalised and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find the motivation to continue.  Please could you help us to find a way to restore our faith in the system and please could we send you a note of our experiences to date for your serious consideration.

Well, Mrs Campbell was in the process of being 'reshuffled' at the time of sending the email and Mr Mackay, new in post, responded to the mail - with an opening paragraph as follows:

"Thank you for sight of the correspondence you sent to my Private Secretary regarding your experiences and concerns with the Planning system. I am keen to see community

engagement in planning which is meaningful and effective, and was interested to hear about your experiences to date."

And what correspondence did I send that he could have had sight of? Well a great deal of information (some 15 pieces in total) but one item of (recent at that time) correspondence to the Reporters' unit contained this statement:

...Based on my experiences I cannot conclude anything other than that Highland Council’s actions to date have resulted in me being unable to meaningfully participate in and exert any genuine influence within the statutory development plan process.  No amount of planning reform has changed that position; in fact, the loss of the ‘Right to be heard’, the existence of the ‘National Planning Framework’ and the uncertainties caused by Highland Planning Authority being allowed to use a ‘Pseudo Structure Plan’ (with legal issues still to be ironed out) has made the situation worse and placed obstacles in the way of clarity, openness, transparency and faith in the process.

So if the HwLDP is what the Government apparently endorses as embracing the modernised planning system; where does leave the public engagement agenda if our negative experiences seem to count for nought?