Will Delnies 'Reserve' Land move be promoted?

So 08/00080/OUTNA will be considered by the INBS PAC on 5th July. Officers are recommending the Grant of planning permission for this major development covering some 638no Ha west of Nairn at Delnies. However, the 300 residential units; Tourism and Heritage Centre; Hotel, Spa and Conference facilities; Golf Course, Equestrian Centre etc. may not be the total amount of development on the site in the period to 2031 and possibly beyond.

Some of this land is also allocated for 2,100 houses in the A96 framework (and by the by the boundary for the application does exceed that which is shown for the Delnies area on the A96 Framework.)

As I read it, Delnies is given a 300no house allocation during the period 2011-2020 in the HwLDP but nothing from 2021-2031 and in their representation to the HwLDP the landowners are requesting that if no allocation is given to Delnies in the medium and longer terms then the wider landholding (shown as green hatched areas north and south of the A96 on the submission here) should be given the status of 'Strategic Reserve Land'. This would be reserved for development to come forward in the event of Nairn South / Tornagrain / Whiteness failing to deliver the appropriate level of housing to meet the Plan's requirements and the longer term growth strategy of the A96 Corridor.

I must admit to being confused but won't go on any more with detail about HNDA and Nairn's allocation in the A96 Corridor - over the 30 years of the A96 Framework - and numbers for Nairn in the HwLDP.

So given my thoughts in previous posts about the change of emphasis on proposed development in the A96 Corridor it will be interesting to see if this area of land makes it into the reserves and from there, well who knows?

Read all about it HwLDP; 'Reporters Monthly Update for June 2011'

The latest from the HwLDP examination web pages:

Reporters Monthly Update for June 2011

"Following the receipt of the plan the initial administrative procedures have now been concluded. These included checking all the documentation is present and complies with the necessary legislative requirements. Part of this is an examination of the council's statement on its legal responsibilities regarding the consultation procedures followed during the preparation of the plan. After some clarification, this was all found to be in order.

The plan has now been passed formally to the reporters for the examination properly and an initial division made of the issues each will consider. A work programme has been prepared with the aim of delivering their report to the council by the end of November. Their next step is a thorough study of the plan to ensure they have a clear understanding of it, before looking at each issue in detail. The following stage will be an examination of the issues to assess whether they have enough information on each one, and if not the procedures that will be followed to acquire this. Options include further written submissions, or a hearing or inquiry session. Relevant objectors will be informed individually if they are required to take part in any further procedure."

Development Plan Assistant

The Scottish Government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals

Campus seems to be main focus of City Vision

A Report to the Inverness City Committee gave over the better part of 2 of it 6 pages of text to an update of the progress of the Inverness Campus.

According to the Report proposals include:

Inverness College UHI, providing some 20,000 sq.m. of high
quality accommodation for FE, HE, research and enterprise
activity. Due to open summer 2014.

• Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), extends to 2,000 sq.m.
North of Scotland HQ for Training, Research, Consultancy
including a centre for epidemiological research. Opens in 2014.

• The Training Hotel, (partnership between Albyn Housing
Association and the Calman Trust) extending to 6000 sq.m. a
fully operational 120 bed commercial hotel offering additional
short-stay accommodation. Run as a social enterprise offering
employment and training opportunities for the disadvantaged.
Opens in 2014

• Centre for Health Science, Phase IV, project now under
development which may include: multi-disciplinary healthcare
practice; primary care, rural health & digital health research
activity; and business incubator. Planned opening 2015.

• Regional Sports Facility, offering enhanced facilities for
students and local community but also promoting excellence and
supporting elite athletes. Academic links with wellbeing and
sports medicine. Planned opening 2015.

• Student/short-term accommodation. Planned 1st Phase
opening 2014.

More here

Is 'The New Town' near Tornagrain about to disappear off the map?

For more than 6 years now there has been talk of building a New Town on a large greenfield site off the A96 - near to Inverness Airport and close to the tiny existing hamlet of Tornagrain; from which the New Town would take its name.

I attended the early public meetings at which the plans for this venture were outlined and heard Andres Duany say quite clearly that the blue dot (referring to the place on a map where the New Town would be situated) is /was 'not going away'.

Well there has been very little talk of this New Town recently but plenty of references to developments in other areas of Inverness and Nairn.

For example, the Inverness Courier today has an item on the new proposals for a site at Inverness Retail and Business Park - click here (and lets not forget that there is an outstanding application for 'bulky goods retail' a little further up the retail park site)

Then there's the item in the Press and Journal, also today:

Work on a new town centre to the east of Inverness could start by the end of the year as a legal agreement between the developers and Highland Council is set to be finalised shortly.

Consortium Inverness Estates has pledged to commit millions of pounds to infrastructure at the 2,500-home development at Stratton Farm, as part of the agreement which outlines planning gain.

The consortium, composed of Tulloch Homes of Inverness, Aviemore-based Upland Developments and Narden from Nairn, has agreed to instal roads and basic services, such as water and electrical supplies, at the 195-acre site, saving the council millions of pounds.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2324426#ixzz1QCu4KjOJ

On June 20th a piece on the BBC web news, 'The Only Way is Essich' conveyed the views of Chartered Surveyors Souter and Jaffrey as being that:

...for much of the last decade developers have focused on east Inverness, but the firm expected the opening of the Asda and Tesco to revive interest in areas such as Lochardil and Holm.

Those living in the town of Nairn will know that Highland Council is preparing to consider whether or not to grant Planning in Principle for a planning application with significant and varied development on a very large site west of Nairn (the area of land here also contains an SSSI SPA and Ramsar site).

To this observer there certainly seems to have been a change of emphasis.

A short film to watch

An interesting piece at the link below

http://www.youtube.com/v/APkygNRylRY

See also 'The End of Sustainable Development' here and more about the speaker / author here

HwLDP examination; what's to come?

It is early days yet for the examination of the Highland-wide Local Development Plan; to get an idea of the sorts of things that the Reporter's unit asks for why not check out a couple of other Local Authority web sites:

• Mid Fife Local Plan examination page

• North Lanarkshire Local Plan examination page

DPEA Current Examinations page

It seems it may not take too long for the Highland Council's 'Examination' web page to fill up with requests for info - and details of hearings?

No right to be heard

The examination will be led by the Reporter, and neither the objector nor the planning authority have a right to be heard at a public local inquiry;

Recent changes to the Planning Act require planning authorities to prepare local development plans for their area. These are to replace the previous local plans.

If representations have been made to the planning authority about the plan and any matters of dispute have not been resolved, the planning authority must submit the plan to the Scottish Ministers for examination.

Ministers will appoint a person, or persons (normally Scottish Government Reporters), to carry out the examination.

The arrangements for the examination will be made by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals.

The main features of the new process are:

• The planning authority will be expected to submit, at the outset, all the material necessary for the examination, including a summary of the unresolved issues arising from the unwithdrawn objections;

• The Reporter will decide how to conduct the examination and, for each issue, whether s/he requires further information;

• The examination will be led by the Reporter, and neither the objector nor the planning authority have a right to be heard at a public local inquiry;

• For most issues, no further information should be required, but if it is, the Reporter will decide who will be asked to provide it;

• A written submission setting out the information requested should usually be sufficient;

• The Reporter may decide to hold a hearing if that is needed to explore the information further, and will decide who to invite to participate in the discussion at the hearing;Only exceptionally will an inquiry session be necessary to test the information through cross-examination;

• The Reporter will submit a report of the examination to the planning authority, containing his or her conclusions and recommendations on each issue; and

• Any modifications to the plan which are recommended by the Reporter will generally be binding on the planning authority.

Web page here

Examination update HwLDP - update

Planning asked to provide coloured copies of Maps more here

General Page here

Community Council Financial arrangements

Extracts below from Report here which is to be presented to councillors at the next meeting of the Highland Council. Members will be asked to approve principles and select options

The total budget for Community Councils is £207,413 with an average grant settlement of £1,347, however this varies considerably. Appendix 1 sets out the current funding levels of Community Councils. The current arrangements date from 2002 when an attempt was made to equalise funding across Community Councils. This was unsuccessful and the current formula has not been reviewed since this time. Anomalies therefore exist in relation to funding levels both across and within wards.

It is recommended that new funding arrangements, based on either option 1, 2 or 3, are in place for Community Councils from the beginning of the financial year 2012/13. The arrangements will be based upon the principles set out in section 3.1 and section 4. It is recommended that the implementation of these arrangements be staggered over a two year period




NB there is also an item on CC Elections

Scotland's Six Cities

Scotland's Six Cities

"A Shared Vision for Scotland's Success"

Councillors will be asked to agree the key priorities for the City of Inverness and Region at the next Highland Council meeting*. These priorities are as set out in section 3 of the Report here and include:

The Beechwood Campus;
A96 Corridor Development;
Scottish Open in July - tourism;
Centres for excellence in Health Sciences;
Air Links through Inverness Airport;
Trunk Road Network with A96 Corridor development heavily dependent on developer contributions and Government investment;
Broadband;
Renewables;
Inverness City Centre Development Brief - along with others as part of ICV

*A meeting of The Highland Council will take place in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 23 June 2011 at 11.00am (or following the Special Joint Meeting with the NHS Highland Board – whichever is the later)

HwLDP Examination latest

On 4 May 2011 The Highland Council submitted the Proposed Highland wide Local Development Plan to Scottish Ministers for examination. The Scottish Ministers appointed Mr Trevor A Croft BSc Dip TRP ARSGS FRSA MRTPI, and Mr Malcolm Mahony BA(Hons) MRTPI on 18 May 2011 to carry out the examination of the Highland wide Local Development Plan 2010 in accordance with Section 19(3) of the amended Town and Country Planning Scotland Act 1997. Additional Reporters may be appoint to support the delivery of the report.

Please note that on 10 June 2011 Mr Robert W Maslin BA DipTP MRTPI was appointed as an additional reporter to carry out the examination of the Highland wide Local Development Plan 2010.

More Here

The latest DPEA information relating to the Highland Wide Local Development Plan Examination

1. Letter from DPEA re: Conformity Statement (1 June 2011)
2. Highland Council response to DPEA Letter re: Conformity Statement (9 June 2011)
3. Letter from DPEA confirming commencement of HWLDP Examination following confirmation of Participation Statement compliance (15 June 2011)

Where will it end?

From Chris Brown's blog:

"The strange war between Vince Cable and Eric Pickles is currently being waged on various battlefields. The proposal, currently out for consultation, to amend the Use Classes Order to allow offices, factories and warehouses to be turned into housing is one of these battles."

The post continues;

"Savills recently reported that residential land was the most viable land use..."

"Behind these proposals we can see..."

"We do seem to have passed well beyond the era of evidence based policy making ..."

Read item in full here

New Look Scottish Government Web site

Scottish Government



See also Scottish Parliament web site here

Road consultations

Three further options to be analysed for Inverness City West Link



Plus announcement of consultation:

Dingwall Kinnairdie Link Road project consultation

Urgent review of fire prevention building standards called for

The Chairman of The Highland Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee is calling for the Scottish Government to urgently review the recent changes to building legislation regarding water supply for fire fighting which are having a serious detrimental effect on housing development in the Highlands.

A new mandatory building standard requires every new house to have a water supply for fire fighting and this will add to the construction costs. Previously domestic buildings were exempt from complying with this standard.

Councillor Ian Ross said: “There has been no consultation with local authorities over this change and while no one wants to be complacent about the risk of fire, we also need to ensure that people looking to build their homes in rural locations are not burdened with onerous costs. Due to the geography of our area this issue is important as it impacts on so many people at a time when we are actively promoting development in the countryside through our Development Plan.

Text from HC press release here