URGENT: New Community Engagement Advice Published; it is very much in your interest to be aware of this

Development is essential if we are to meet our current and future economic, social and environmental needs and aspirations. The planning system guides the future development and use of land - where development should happen, where it should not and how it interacts
with its surroundings. Through a plan-led system, succinct and clear development plans set out ambitious, long-term visions for an area. By taking decisions on applications for planning permission, the future development of an area is set out.

So states the very first paragraph of the latest Government Planning Advice Note*

Para 7 continues:

Whatever the circumstances, it is important that all stakeholders know the extent to which they can be involved in planning decisions, taking into account the practical limits of the process and the constraints within which it operates. For instance, while development plans will set out the planning authority’s policies and proposals, whether development will actually occur on a piece of land will also depend on subsequent regulatory processes, such as the need for planning consent, and a host of other factors including the landowner’s aspirations for the site.

So,

• How does the Government define community engagement?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in the community engagement aspects of planning? (Government, Local Authorities / Councillors, Community Councils and other interest/ community groups, applicants and their agents)
• What is meant by 'Development Planning' and 'Development Management' and how do you get involved in both processes?
• What is Pre-application consultation?
• What are the national standards for engagement?

For the answer to the above and many other questions click through here now

(*Planning Advice Notes provide advice and information on technical planning matters.)

Consultation; UHI Millennium Institute being awarded University title. Speak Up for Rural Scotland; Extending the Coverage of the Freed

Extract:

THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION PROCESS

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Government working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Government, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general, Scottish Government consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

The Scottish Government encourages consultation that is thorough, effective and appropriate to the issue under consideration and the nature of the target audience. Consultation exercises take account of a wide range of factors, and no two exercises are likely to be the same.

Typically Scottish Government consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the issue, and they are also placed on the Scottish Government web site enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. Consultation exercises may also involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as through public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises. Copies of all the written responses received to a consultation exercise (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Government library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4565).

All Scottish Government consultation papers and related publications (eg, analysis of response reports) can be accessed at: Scottish Government consultations ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations)

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

* indicate the need for policy development or review
* inform the development of a particular policy
* help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
* be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

Final decisions on the issues under consideration will also take account of a range of other factors, including other available information and research evidence.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

The following (amongst other) consultations are now on the Scottish Government web pages

UHI Millennium Institute being awarded University title - here

Speak Up for Rural Scotland - here

Consultation on Extending the Coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - here

*Resourcing a High Quality Planning System: A Consultation Paper - here

* Previous post

Getting together with Developers

From Scottish Government Web site

Since August 3, 2009, all planning applications for National and Major developments have been subject to statutory pre application consultation (PAC) with communities. The minimum requirements for PAC are set out in The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended (the 1997 Act) and The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (DMR). Applicants must submit a Proposal of Application Notice to the planning authority setting out what consultation activity they intend to carry out, and when a full application is submitted, this must be accompanied by a Pre Application Consultation Report that should set out how the applicant complied with the PAC requirements.

As part of the Regulatory Impact Assessment to the DMR, the Scottish Government committed itself to assess how the new system was working on the ground, approximately a year after implementation.

More here and here

Challenging Bad Development

Latest from Planning Daily:

CPRE and ELF today called for a new, limited public right of appeal against bad decisions.

The two organisations also published today a guide that explains the only way currently available for concerned members of the public to challenge planning decisions through the High Court.

Plan B: How to Challenge bad development in court is available here.

Full item from Planning Daily here

Don't forget the Planning Resource blog

Urban Dialogue

Urban Realm reports on Andres Duany return to Scotland here

(Remember 'Charrettes of Ire' here and more on Elsick here)

Ancient Woodland

Extract

About 3% of the UK is made up of ancient woodland, still a large area but, many of the sites are tiny and scattered across the country.

It is their size and distribution that makes them particularly vulnerable to being chipped away by house building, road widening and service provision.

The South East is particularly at risk given the pressure to develop and accommodate an ever growing population. (Full item here)

Extract

Using the Inventories of ancient, long-established and semi-natural woodland for Scotland , the percentage of Scotland’s ancient woodland afforded Site of Special Scientific Interest protection is 48%.

From the SNH web pages:

In Scotland, Ancient Woodland is defined as land that is currently wooded and has been continually wooded, at least since 1750 which is when the first maps to cover the whole country were produced . Ancient woodland is thus directly descended from the original woodland that developed after the retreat of the ice sheets in Britain 10,000 years ago. The wildlife communities, soils and structure of ancient woodlands have had the longest time to develop, and are therefore generally (but not invariably) richer than that of more recent woods - so we can use 'ancientness' as an indicator of woods which are likely to be of high value in relation to other aspects of the nature and landscapes. More here

Market value?

'Expansion will be driven by the private sector and if there is no business case it simply will not happen. The market will see to that. (Inverness Courier Leader click here)'

But homes and facilities need to be provided for those that have been priced out of the market; strong, sensible, thoroughly tested policy should deliver for those in need before it is too late for many. Isn't that why THC is required to produce a 'Housing Need and Demand Assessment'?

So, does the 'market' provide us with the solutions to the problem of increasingly unsatisfied housing need?

Ken Loach said of the book, "Where the other half lives: lower-income housing in a neoliberal world (2009)*"

"To feel secure people, particularly families, need good well-maintained housing, where they know they can live without fear of having to leave. Our society has consistently failed to provide this. We are told the market will be the answer, but it isn't. I hope this book will explain why, and point the way to a socially responsible economy"

The Editor (and part author) says of the book - further information here:

"At the heart of today’s housing crisis is the prioritisation of housing as real estate rather than as homes. In 2007, it was estimated that 60% of Britain’s wealth was made up of property, and property speculation has played an important part in wealth re-distribution."

"This speculative property market is a huge force for inequality, and, as a report for Shelter pointed out, a person’s ‘social position… will be increasingly determined by their parents’ housing wealth’."

The Highland-wide Local Development Plan has to be greater and better than something that will break and bend according to the vagaries of the market in order to fulfill the RPTI's expectations of planning:

"...It maintains the best of the past, whilst encouraging innovation in the design and development of future buildings and neighbourhoods to meet our future needs."

[*Amazon has 2 reviews of this book including:

"This volume provides a well considered and thoughtful analysis of the failures of decades of housing policy drawing on examples from accross the globe. Considering both the local and national contexts this book is an absolute must read for anyone working in the field of housing policy or housing research. The text provides a robust critique of current policies and goes a long way to help debunk the false policy choices that the neo-liberal experiment has presented to socitey."

The more we say...

...the less effective we become?

I had a conversation yesterday - with someone who shall remain nameless - and the conclusion reached was that 'APTSec' had said (or at least written) enough. The person was not being unkind or unhelpful, the person was merely pointing out that it is possible for any individual to write so many letters that in the end the contents are ignored. The case of 'the usual subjects'.

I have to admit that the output has been pretty prolific lately, and, with what I feel is good cause, but I had been developing a sense that the messages were not getting through.

Now there have been individuals who have resorted to some eye catching tactics, click here, to campaign and raise awareness (the comments after the article here illustrate the mixed feelings that this arouses) but surely it should not come to this?

Well, perhaps I should save my breath and energy for commenting on the Proposed Highland-wide Local Development Plan, but that still leaves the problem of how what needs to be said now is said and to whom by whom.

Answers on a postcard as they say.

Coming to a site near you?

A personal take on a visit to the Expo from Mann's World

However the question for me would be; if you were a single person on let's say 25k per annum (teacher or police officer with a few years experience and training maybe?) would the size of the mortgage you could get cover the cost of a plot of land, the services of the architect and builders and all the fees associated to get a house like one of these built?

If every small settlement in the Highlands however set aside some land to put 10 homes at a time? Would economies of scale for groups who got together make a difference?

Take a look at some of the buildings here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yellowbookltd/4861329898/in/set-72157624529819891/

Comments welcome

Who's for a Double Dip?

Quite a few organisations apparently!

It is worth having a look at an item from Today's Planning Daily blog which notes:

'Warning: this blog contains gloomy economic predictions that some viewers may find disturbing.

There seems to be a point when gloomy predictions on the state of the economy reach a critical mass and we risk sliding towards disaster. I think we may be at or approaching that point.'

7 comments so far click here

Get those views in at the right time

Quote for this week

"...it is now more important than ever before, that any party with an interest in development planning is geared up to submit full representations in relation to an allocation at an early stage in the process"

(Sheppherd and Wedderburn E-Bulletin )

Where have all the details gone...

Well I must say I am shocked; shocked, confused, disappointed and worried.

What is the cause of this anxiety you may ask?

Well a few moments ago I would have merely have said I was disappointed by the quality of the maps in the Proposed Highland-wide Local Development Plan. Gone are the clearer maps with the areas in hectares, the exact locations of uses etc.

There must be something wrong I thought, so I checked some other new style plans and searched for key words such as 'hectare' and 'density'. There were no such words to be found. I then had an idea, look on the Scottish Planning Directorates web site for guidance and this is what I found:

Looking ahead to Proposed Plans web page dated 05 July 2010

As far as I am concerned - personally - it is a case of 'read it and weep'.

For more information look at:

Priorities for the New Development Plans

Housing Need and Demand Assessments

And for ESSENTIAL reading

Planning Ahead for the New Style of Development Plan Examinations

This is it folks!!!!!!!!!!!!

From the HwLDP Blog dated 04 August

The Agenda for the next meeting of The Highland Council's Planning, Environment and Development Committee is available online from 11am today. You can view it by clicking here.

There are some very important reports going before this committee including:

Highland wide Local Development Plan: Proposed Plan
This report outlines the content of the Highland wide Local Development Plan Proposed Plan and asks members to approve the document which will be appended as Appendix 1 to be issued for public consultation for 10 weeks starting in September. This Booklet is available from the website.

Inverness City Vision
Green Networks: Supplementary Guidance
Housing in the Countryside: Supplementary Guidance and Siting and Design Guidance
Special Landscape Areas - Citations
Draft Housing Land Audit 2010

All of the above reports are very important in preparing new planning policy in The Highland Council area. You will be able to view a webcast of the committee meeting on the Council website by clicking here from 10:30am on 11th August 2010 and a few days after the Committee the webcast will be archived and available to view at the same link.

If you have any questions about any of the above reports please contact us at devplans@highland.gov.uk or call 01463 702259

Time to get involved

REMEMBER:

Having had regard to the representations received on the main issues report, section 18 of the Act requires the planning authority to prepare and publish a proposed plan. Publication at this stage is subject to the same minimum requirements as for the main issues report as described at paragraph 49 above, but the authority must allow at least 6 weeks for representations to be made.

NOTE WELL:

Scottish Ministers expect the proposed plan to represent the planning authority’s settled view as to what the final adopted content of the plan should be. This stage should not be used to ‘test the water’: new or controversial elements of plan content should already have been aired at the main issues report stage (at least as options). Representations by stakeholders and the general public should be concise (no more than 2,000 words plus any limited supporting productions), but should fully explain the issues that people wish to be considered at the examination. There is no automatic opportunity for parties to expand on their representation later in the process. Authorities may therefore wish to consider offering a longer period, of up to 12 weeks for complex plans, to give parties sufficient time to formulate the entirety of their case.

(The 2,000 words noted above is not as I understand it a legal requirement but is meant to focus representations. However you can include supporting information with your representations. Click here for the planning circular that gives yo info on development planning)

I will be posting more on how to go about setting out representations in the next few weeks

Please do not hesitate to get in touch using the apt.intouch@live.co.uk

Publication of HwLDP imminent

The Development Plans Manager has said that the HwLDP will be available on the council web site on Friday 06 in the PED committee meeting papers.

It is a chance to have a quick look before the formal consultation starts.

I’ll send out the link as soon as I see it but they normally publish the meeting papers for the PED around noon on Friday.

I believe the page will be this one

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/committees/committeeinformation/committee-mins-ag-list.htm

Where you will need to click on 'Planning, Environment and Development Committee'

Then go to the link for the meeting Agenda (dated 110810) which should appear in the RHS menu you can then click on it and scan through the agenda to find the HwLDP item and read it to locate the link to the plan itself.

Committee agrees to assess

Latest on Council house scheme from THC web site:

The Highland Council’s Housing and Social Work Committee has unanimously agreed to investigate the feasibility of embarking on a new council house building programme. More info here

Extract from committee report:

9 Recommendations

Committee is asked to:

1 Agree to undertake and fund a full feasibility assessment on the equity release model as a means to deliver additional affordable housing in the Highlands.

2 Agree to work closely with the Scottish Government in developing the model.

3 Note that following detailed feasibility assessment a detailed business case will be reported to Committee for consideration

4 Note that a report on the National Housing Trust Model, with a recommendation that the Council participate in the National Housing Trust procurement process will be presented to the Resources Committee on 18 August.

Full report here