Inverness planning and building standards office move Inverness planning and building standards office move

Highland Council press release:

Members of the public are being informed by The Highland Council that the Inverness Planning and Building Standards Office is moving to 2nd Floor, Kintail House, Beechwood Park, Inverness.

The area service will be closed from 9am on Monday 14 March to 5pm on Wednesday 16 March inclusive. It will reopen at 9am on Thursday 17 March 2011. The Council apologises for the inconvenience.

The office at Kintail House provides parking and office accommodation that meets Disability Discrimination Act requirements for staff and customers. The Planning Service is also co-locating at Kintail House with Ness Horizons, part of Highland Opportunities Limited which will allow some shared services.

During the 3-day closure any urgent calls to the Inverness area planning office will be handled by the Planning and Development Service at Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on 01463 702250 and will be passed on to relevant staff.

The new main contact details for enquiries at Kintail House will be:

The Highland Council, Planning and Building Standards,
2nd Floor, Kintail House, Beechwood Park, Inverness IV2 3BW
tel: 01463 255200 or e-mail: planning.inverness@highland.gov.uk

Original article here

Is March 16th a big day for Highland Wide Plan?

Some insight from the Development Plans Manager:

"We will be taking a report to the March 16^th Committee meeting with a full appraisal of all views, and will make further recommendations to Councillors. If there are major changes proposed by the Council then there will have to be further public consultation. If no major changes are proposed an Examination will follow, and the Reporter appointed to deal with it will come to a view on whether the Council’s view is acceptable."

(There is a Planning, Environment and Development (PED) Committee Meeting listed on the Headquarter's meeting timetable for that date)

Latest on Community Councils from Highland Council site

New Community Council scheme (04/03/11)

A new scheme governing the running of Community Councils in the Highlands takes effect from 1 April 2011. It brings together eight separate schemes into one Highland-wide scheme.

Community Councils are expected to adopt a new constitution and standing orders before 30 June and hold their first elections – to be held every four years - in November of this year.

The core membership will be 7 members and the maximum membership will be 13, depending on population. The quorum will be 4 members.

The scheme agreed by The Highland Council follows three phases of consultation with the public.

Convener Sandy Park said: “Community Councils play an important role in representing the views of local residents. The major review brings together 8 separate schemes in the Highlands into one and should result in a more consistent operation of Community Councils and better representation in our communities, through more contested elections.”

Link here

"Enemies of Enterprise"

"The town hall officials who take forever to make those planning decisions that can be make or break for a business - and the investment and jobs that go with it."

Click here for more

Public crushed by weight of planning

APTSec has just received another Scottish Government 'Planning and Building' on-line newsletter and it is getting more and more difficult to keep up with what is going on.

Top of the list of items is the news that the Scottish Government has launched a 'Charrette Mainstreaming Programme' aimed at embedding charrette working at the heart of designs for new and regenerated places across Scotland. More on this in later posts

There is now a new Planning Advice Note dealing with Planning and Noise. This provides new advice on the role of the planning system in helping to prevent and limit the adverse effects of noise. It supersedes Circular 10/1999 Planning and Noise and PAN 56 Planning and Noise. Information and advice on noise impact assessment methods is provided in the associated Technical Advice Note

As of February 1, 2011 significant changes have been made to section 75 of the 1997 Planning Act, introducing a formal process for modifying or discharging section 75 obligations and introducing good neighbour agreements. Guidance has now been published on these changes as an Annex to Circular 1/2010.

For those APT followers who sent in their views there is a 'Partial Analysis of Responses to the Amendments to the Modernised Planning System consultation' available here

Parliamentary consideration will be required for the following regulations:

The Town and Country Planning (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2011These Regulations amend the regulations on Development Planning , Development Management, Appeals and Local Reviews. Subject to Parliamentary consideration, most of the changes will come into force on April 1, 2011 and a new requirement to consult with the Crofters Commission will come into force on October 1, 2011.

The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment ) (Scotland) Regulations 2011
These Regulations consolidate, update, and replace Part II of the 1999 EIA regulations. Subject to Parliamentary consideration, the regulations will come into force on June 1, 2011. Associated guidance will be published in the future. There are no transitional provisions.

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Non-Domestic Microgeneration) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2011
This Order amends the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992. Subject to Parliamentary consideration, the regulations will come into force on March 18, 2011. Classes of permitted development referred to include; solar panels; the pipework for ground and water source heat pumps; biomass and anaerobic digestion plant

A good read

An interesting piece on Urban Sprawl which I really enjoyed reading

http://regenbrown.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/urban-sprawl-political-issue/

The right house in the right place?

Interesting item here from 2008

The report, Home Economics: How Housing Shapes City Economies, recommends that cities should plan new housing supply based on a better understanding of the demand from local people. Local authorities should collaborate across boundaries to address ‘real' economic areas, rather than working in isolation. And cities should work together with local employers and house-builders, to make sure that the right houses are built in the right places.

More here

Not all doom and gloom?

Skills and training organisations throughout the Highlands and Islands are to benefit from a multi-million pound boost to the region's economy.

Thirteen projects, worth £10.1 million in total, across Orkney, the Western Isles, Argyll and Bute and the Highlands will offer a range of courses aimed at providing the skilled workforce needed to protect and strengthen economic recovery in the region.

Announcing the European Structural Fund (ESF) package, Skills Minister Angela Constance said:

"This crucial funding boost will support those in the Highlands and Islands who are unemployed, particularly young people, low paid or disadvantaged to improve existing skills and develop new ones to help them into sustainable, rewarding jobs.

More from this Scottish Government Press Release here

Bypass update

I have just recieved a standard response to my very long submission to this consultation

Dear Sir/Madam

INVERNESS CITY - WEST LINK ROAD PROJECT
PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Thank you for taking the time to consider our proposals and for submitting a comment on the
Highland Council’s options for the Inverness City - West Link Road Project.

The Council’s project team comprising officials from TEC Services and Planning and Development will now review your comment along with all other comments received.

If you have asked a specific question, it is my intention to respond to you after I have looked into the issue and have had the opportunity to consider it further.

I can advise you that your views will be taken into account as the Council assesses the feedback from the public consultation.

I will write to you again in due course and I would thank you for your continued interest in this project.

Concerns remain still; The letter from the Council gives no indication that my views or the views of others will be presented in any open and most importantly widely publicised forum, therefore, my main concern remains that the responses to my (or any) questions will not be made widely available and the public will be denied an opportunity to participate meaningfully because of a lack of genuine clarity surrounding the issues.

Scottish Environment Week

Scottish Environment Week is organised by Scottish Environment LINK

Theme: Active Citizens and the Scottish Environment

(Thanks to sponsors Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland, the Scottish Council for
Voluntary Organisations and Calor Scotland.)

Click here for programme

Flooding and drainage advice notes being lumped together

From S Gov Newsletter

Flooding and Drainage Advice is being replaced
The Scottish Government is due to begin work on a consolidated PAN to replace PAN 61 on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, PAN 69 on Flooding and PAN 79 on Water and Drainage during 2011. We will work closely with key stakeholders therefore if you wish to discuss the consolidated PAN in more detail, please contact Simon Pallant by e-mail or by telephoning 0131 244 7761

Compulsory Purchase; consultation on new guidance

Guidance on the use of compulsory purchase: a consultation paper

Extract from Foreword

Compulsory purchase is a valuable tool to facilitate projects in the public interest where it is impossible or impractical to acquire the land by agreement. These are often vital schemes that can promote economic recovery and sustainable economic growth and bring real benefits to our communities. But without compulsory purchase they could not go ahead.

It is vitally important that an authority considering compulsory purchase never loses sight of the people affected. The impact on someone of losing his or her home or business can be enormous. One of the key messages in the new guidance is that compulsory purchase need not be a heavy handed process if managed correctly. Key to this is the early, ongoing and meaningful consultation and engagement with those affected.

I urge you to respond with your thoughts on the draft guidance. I welcome your
comments.

(This consultation seeks views on two draft circulars. The first contains guidance on using compulsory purchase appropriately and effectively. The second will amend the Crichel Down Rules, which set out the circumstances and basis on which surplus land that was compulsorily acquired is offered back to the former owner)

Written responses invited to this consultation paper by Friday 6 May 2011.

Link to web page and consultation doc here

Spending a Day with the Leading Lights

Extract:

The Planning Aid for Scotland (PAS) 2011 conference brings together some of the most influential figures in Scotland from the fields of planning, architecture, waste, health, housing, regeneration and the environment to examine the leadership role of the planning system. This is a rare event bringing together a truly multi-disciplinary selection of professionals representing all aspects of Scotland’s built environment.

At this unique one-day conference, PAS invites you to participate in a debate that will ultimately affect each and every one of us in Scotland’s built environment. How can planning take on a greater role in creating better places? And how can we ensure greater public participation in making and improving our places? Are the different professions talking and listening to each other? How can the media help us to engage more positively with planning our environment?

The Leadership Role of Planning conference will provide not only the forum for debate – but crucially, it will investigate the practical steps necessary to make change happen.

This is the event of 2011 for all those who work to shape Scotland’s towns and cities.

You...

... are a planner, architect or urban designer who wants to realise your profession’s potential to deliver change

... work in waste management, wondering how planning can deliver improvement for our health and physical environment

... work in health or housing and want to know how planning can benefit your work

... are passionate about shaping and improving your local community

... or perhaps you are simply interested in how your town or city is changing...

For full article and more details click here

APT is too cash strapped to be able to send anyone but if you are involved in trying to shape your community then perhaps a visit to the conference?

Review of pre-recession development agreements on the cards

From 'Planning'

Scotland's chief planner is to write to local authorities to ask them to review development agreements signed before the recession in a bid to help developers restart stalled projects.

Cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth John Swinney said that chief planner Jim McKinnon would write to local authorities asking them to relax planning agreements that were agreed before the credit crunch.

A planning advice note from the Scottish Government indicates that, where there is a clear need, planning authorities can seek a contribution of up to 25 per cent affordable housing in new developments.

But speaking at the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) annual conference, Swinney said: "The chief planner is writing to local authorities to say the requirement for 25 per cent affordable housing should be viewed with more relaxation than is currently the case."

SPF chairman Malcolm Naish said: "The willingness to be flexible about the way policy is interpreted is an extremely welcome development and one that is essential if Scotland is to show that it is open for business".

Swinney said: "There is no point local authorities saying 'that's what we did in 2007'. 2007 development contracts in the 2011 market will just encourage stasis.

"Is that clearly understood and accepted in all local authorities in Scotland? Probably not."

Hopefully the original item from 'Planning' is here

From BPF web pages more here

From ComProp Scotland here

From Estates Gazette here

Some additional background information on the S Gov web pages here from this doc here

Prince Charles speaks out

From Today's 'Planning'

The Prince of Wales has talked of his 'unbelievable frustration' at the loss of heritage buildings to 'inappropriate owners' in a keynote speech in London.

Prince Charles said that too often in the past buildings had been sold off "frequently to the inappropriate owners who have absolutely no intention whatsoever of using those buildings in any way but had managed to spin an incredibly good yarn to local authorities about what they are going to do with these buildings and frequently, if I may say so, that line is fallen for over and over again.

Hopefully more here