Money for Greener Homes; could be more?

From Scottish Gov web page

A new £10 million fund aims to deliver hundreds of eco-friendly homes and bring down heating bills.

More information about the Greener Homes Innovation Scheme and the Greener Homes Prospectus is available at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/sustainable/largescale

The prospectus, originally produced for the Greener Homes Summit held last November, has been updated. It contains case studies of modern methods of construction.

Link here

Council Office Review

Highland Councillors have been advised that reducing the number of Council offices in Inverness and Dingwall from 22 to 4 by 2020 has the greatest potential to deliver significant benefits and improved value to the Council when compared to retaining the current office estate.

An Outline Business Case into the rationalisation of office accommodation, which will be presented to the Council's Finance Housing and Resources Committee on Wednesday 3 October, concludes that the 'preferred option' the Council should pursue is the development of a new centrally located, four-site Council office and front line 'Service Point' solution in Inverness and Dingwall' (comprising 2 sites in Inverness and 2 sites in Dingwall).

Full item here

Profits up I see

Today's e copy of 'Planning Daily' featured a news round-up item entitled:

'Housebuilders enjoy record profits increases'

So I set of on a search for more info and here are some of the details that I came across:

From the FT here

Inside Housing.co.uk

The Telegraph

Construction News

Inside Housing

The Telegraph

The Telegraph

Judge for yourselves.

Simplify the Scottish Planning System that is what I say

Okay here's a suggestion based on my experiences of planning to date, but you'll need to click on the link below.

Click here and go to page 4

You should find a slide there entitled, 'What's the Process?' 

The slide shows the 'old' and the 'new' Development Plan stages

What is does not show is the 'Call for Sites' stage, explained on the Highland Council web page here

My suggestion would be to:

•  Get rid of the 'Main Issues Report' stage which purports to 'Involve' and 'Consult /  Negotiate and simply have a 'Call for Sites' which the Local Authority then uses with as much speed as possible to prepare the 'Proposed Plan'; 
• Make the Examination stage longer with the Reporters able to look at 'Supplementary Guidance' and hold more Inquiries and hearings 

What do you think?

12.23 and the web cast was paused; I had to find out from the BBC!

Midday and not long back home after dashing out and I decided to have a quick look at the web cast of the PED meeting to see how far the Agenda had progressed.

The meeting was covering what seemed to be the end of Agenda Item 3 

3. Notice of Amendment (Planning) - Planning Application (09/00038/OUTIN)

Tornagrain New Town

(to review the decision on the planning application)

What Happened next?

A motion to uphold the previous decision of the South Planning Committee was proposed by Cllr Gray

An amendment was proposed by Cllr Crawford - essentially to delay permission until more details sorted out (had missed all prior discussion so hope this is correct take on amendment that was written out)

The Clerk explained the voting process, Press 1 for motion, 2 for amendment, 3 to abstain...

The votes were cast and the vote then closed at 12.23

The Clerk confirmed that the correct number of votes had been cast

The web cast was paused at 12.23 and has just returned at 12.36 with the words from the chair, possibly to the effect(only heard the words once and very suddenly as the web cast sprang back into life)

"...yes we are quorate so we don't need to worry about that..."(?)

The meeting then moved on to item 4, with an apology to the guest speaker for item 4

No doubt we will have to wait until something appears on line or in the press

The Inverness Courier has a page set up here

I expect that there will be a press release on the Highland Council home page here

Today's meeting web cast will be archived and then appear back in 24 hours or so on the page here

Update

12.51 And the BBC has the Scoop here

Extract from BBC on line

Highland councillors vote 17-3 in favour of  Tornagrain

A Highland Council committee has voted in favour of plans for a new town that caused a row at an earlier meeting.

Last month, Highland Council's south planning applications committee approved the 4,960-home proposal without the matter going to a vote.

Officers told councillors that there were no sound legal grounds to oppose the plan for Tornagrain, near Nairn.

The planning, environment and development committee voted 17 to three in favour of the project.

The project has already been approved in the Highland-wide development plan.

Next Tranche of major consultation announced...

...better start getting prepared now

The Government's 'Planning and Building News' arrived yesterday and I bet you cannot guess what is planned?

Well, according to the Newsletter:

Planning Minister Derek Mackay outlined a major review of Scottish Planning Policy and the programme for delivery of Scotland's third National Planning Framework. 

In a statement to Parliament, Mr Mackay stressed the importance of the planning system in creating sustainable economic growth for Scotland.

And he announced a programme of engagement on the National Planning Framework (NPF) - which will set priorities for national development over the next 20 to 30 years - as well as a review of Scottish Planning Policy, to spell out how that vision will be delivered.

As part of the review of the NPF Mr Mackay launched a call for Candidate National Developments to be considered for inclusion in the final document. The selected developments must make a significant contribution to Scotland's sustainable economic growth and be of national, rather than regional, significance.

Mr Mackay stressed he wants everyone with an interest in the future of Scotland to be able to have a say in developing the national framework and launched online the Participation Statement which set out how people can get involved

In terms of the Third NPF

The NPF can designate “national developments”, which are in the national interest.  14 were identified in NPF2.  The following criteria will be used to evaluate proposals for national development status: 

A Proposal Form (word version) is provided for interested parties to use to suggest  projects which are deliverable, and which they consider to be nationally important.  Proposal forms should also be submitted for the existing national developments, should those taking them forward feel that they will also be relevant to NPF3.  Completed forms should be returned by Friday December 14, 2012.

In terms of Scottish Planning Policy - SPP:

The intended timescale for the review is:

Autumn 2012	Announcement & Call for Ideas
Winter 2012/13	Pre-draft engagement & drafting
Spring 2013	Publish Draft SPP & consultation
Summer 2013	Analyse responses & re-drafting
Before end 2013	Publish finalised SPP

Where to build your university campus?

From Planning e Newsletter here

Extract:

...A group of regeneration professionals has written a letter to Swansea University bosses claiming that the building of a new campus out of town could result in the city losing out on £300million of economic growth.

The university received outline planning consent for a Science and Innovation Campus to teach 5,100 students in November 2010 from Swansea City and County Council and Neath Port Talbot Council.

The site, on Fabian Way, is on the boundary between Neath Port Talbot and the City and County of Swansea and about three miles from the city centre.

However, the letter calls for an alternative site, also on Fabian Way but on the city centre fringe and just one mile from the city centre. It says universities can have a significant impact on city-centre regeneration.

A letter has been written to the 28-member university council by 52 regeneration professionals, led by George Grace, the founder of TownCentred Consultants.

Other signatories include Professor Kevin Murray, a former president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, George Ferguson CBE a past president of the Royal Insitute of British Architects, and Dr Tim Williams, Planning blogger and a former adviser to the Wales and UK governments

The letter states: "Public sector spending in times of austerity must count not once, but twice, three times or more. An out-of-town university will in our view underscore in economic, social, financial and sustainability terms for the city of Swansea."

john.geoghegan@haymarket.com

Britain's 'most beautiful universities' - would you agree?

Link here

News just in - analysis of consultation responses now available

I featured details of the below listed consultations earlier in the year; well this arrived last night in an email from the Head of Planning Legislation:

"Dear Sir / Madam

PLANNING REFORM – NEXT STEPS CONSULTATONS

On March 28, 2012 Derek Mackay, Minister for Local Government and Planning, made a statement to the Scottish Parliament setting out the Scottish Government’s proposals for future reform of the planning system. As part of the Reform Package, views were invited, by June 22, 2012, on the following consultations:

·         Fees for Planning Applications

·         Development Delivery

·         Development Plan Examinations

·         Miscellaneous Amendments to the Planning System

·         General Permitted Development Order

Analyses of responses to these consultations are now available...

I would like to thank you for taking the time to consider the consultation papers and responding..."

So far, I have managed to source links for the 'analysis reports' for the middle (as above) three consultations  which can be found below:

Development Delivery  Consultation 2012 Analysis of Consultation Responses Main Report

Development Plan Examinations Consultation 2012 Analysis of Consultation Responses Main Report September 2012

Consultation on Miscellaneous  Amendments to the Planning System 2012 Analysis of Consultation Responses Main Report September 2012

(Responses to the Consultation on Miscellaneous Amendments to the Planning System 2012)

(I responded as an individual to the 'Development Plan Examinations' consultation but elected not to have my response published.  Anyone who wishes to read what I put forward is free to contact me on  the apt.intouch@live.co.uk email address.)

Boundary Commission 'revised proposals'

From THC web news item here

The Boundary Commission for Scotland today (Thursday) begins an eight week final consultation period with its Sixth Review of UK Parliament Constituencies.  The final consultation period allows comments to be made to the Commission concerning any of itsrevised proposals for constituencies.

Boundary Commission has prepared these revised proposals after considering all of the responses to the Initial Proposals which were published in October 2012. Most of the suggestions presented by The Highland Council have been accepted by the Commission.

Highland Ward 19 (Nairn) and all of the Moray Council area will comprise Moray and NairnConstituency. From the initial proposals, the constituency name has been changed from Moray and Strathspey.

Highland Ward 22 (Fort William and Ardnamurchan) and Ward 12 (Caol and Mallaig) and all of Argyll and Bute Council area will make up the Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber Constituency. From the Initial proposals, the constituency name has been changed from Argyll, Bute and Lochaber.

The main proposals include the creation of two constituencies in the Highland Council area, namely Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty Constituency and Inverness and SkyeConstituency. The Council’s proposals to move Strathconon; Applecross/Lochcarron; Beauly/Kiltarlity into Inverness and Skye Constituency were not accepted.

Copies of the proposals, including maps of the new constituencies are available at main Council offices and from the home page of the Council’s web site:  www.highland.gov.uk.

More on that Award for the HwLDP

I must be missing something (?) help somebody, pleeease


I thought I would do a little research into the 'Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning'

Well, as you will read from clicking on the link above, this year was the 15th such process and there were 3 judges.

I found a very small booklet which lists out the categories and the winners and gives, very briefly, the reason behind the giving of the award / commendation.

For Highland Council, the reasoning is:

...This initiative has been given a Commendation because it has embraced the modernised planning system by streamlining all of its different local development plans into one ‘live’ map-based document that supports delivery on the ground. By offering services such as pre-application advice, the planning team have been able to improve the quality of the service to customers and move things through the system more quickly

One?  If there is only one 'live' document then how come the council web site says:

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The Highland-wide Local Development Plan was adopted on 5 April 2012 and supersedes the General Policies and other related material of this Local Plan. A Parliamentary Order has been made to retain other elements within the Local Plans listed below. This provides the necessary clarity about which parts of the Local Plans continue in force alongside the Highland-wide Local Development Plan until such time as the relevant Area Local Development Plans is adopted. A full schedule of the retained elements of the following plans are contained within Appendix 7 of the HwLDP. Click here to view or download the updated version of Appendix 7 (pdf 617kb).

When using the following adopted Local Plans these must be read in conjunction with the Highland-wide Local Development Plan.

Visit the Local Plan pages for each Area via the links below:

• Badenoch and Strathspey
• Caithness
• Inverness
• Nairnshire
• Ross and Cromarty East
• Sutherland
• Wester Ross
• West Highland and Islands

And then how many 'area' local plans are planned?

Well, here is one view from a 'Dundas and Wilson' Planning Alert (March 2012)

Link here

(Some of the material on this post was first covered on this blog on 06 April 2012 this page )

Railways - High Level Output Specification and Statement of Funds Available

Lying awake in the wee small hours it suddenly occurred to me that we should be due another HLOS and lo and behold there it was on the Transport Scotland web site here.

Extract

...Following the Rail 2014 statement from the Minister for Housing and Transport on 21 June 2012, Scottish Ministers have published their High Level Output Specification (HLOS) and Statement of Funds Available (SoFA). These documents outline what they require the rail industry to achieve in Scotland between 2014-2019 and the public finances which are available to support that.

From the specification:

3.18 Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Line Improvements Phase 1, delivering the network capability to enable the operation of enhanced commuting services into both cities, working with station promoters  to enable them to deliver Kintore and Dalcross stations, and enhancing the end to end service to support the longer term objective for an hourly interval service between the two cities with an average day journey time, calling at all stations, of around 2 hours. 

I am not sure what 3.18 actually says; does it mean that a station will be built or simply that the delivery will be 'planned'?

It is also unclear to me as to which 'Tier' the development falls into.  

Comments as always are welcome.

Scottish Government Cabinet Changes Announced

News Release here

Extract:

The Scottish Government's new Cabinet team has been announced by First Minister Alex Salmond, subject to the necessary parliamentary approval.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s longest serving health secretary, will now become Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities, playing a key role in the Scottish Government’s programme for economic recovery.

She will also take lead responsibility for Government Strategy and the Constitution, including preparations for the independence referendum.

Ms Sturgeon’s junior ministers will be Keith Brown, Minister for Transport and Veterans, and Margaret Burgess, MSP for Cunninghame South, who will become new Minister for Housing and Welfare, reflecting the importance of housing in aiding economic recovery and also the challenges facing those in poverty.

...portfolio responsibilities

Deputy First Minister Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities (with responsibility for Government Strategy and the Constitution) Nicola Sturgeon MSP

Infrastructure and capital investment, transport policy, housing policy, Scottish Water, procurement, European Structural Funds, Scottish Futures Trust, cities strategy, welfare reform, broadband and digital. Developing Government strategy and co-ordinating policy delivery across portfolios. Responsible for constitution policy, including preparations for the Referendum, UK relations. Freedom of Information.

No change to LG and P

Minister for Local Government and Planning Derek Mackay MSP

Local Government, Community Planning, Business Improvement, Elections, Planning, Building Standards

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? 

HwLDP gets Awards Commendation

News Just released:

...The Highland Council’s ambitious vision to support the sustainable economic growth of the Highland’s has been commended at a national awards ceremony.

The Highland-wide Local Development Plan received a Commendation at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning in the Quality of Service Category. This year marked the 15th Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning (SAQP) which is one of the Scottish Government's most prestigious events and celebrates achievements in planning, from strategic visions to development on the ground.

The Highland-wide Local Development Plan seeks to deliver new houses, jobs and infrastructure while recognising and protecting the special natural, built and cultural heritage of our area. The Plan was commended as it “embraced the modernised planning system by streamlining all of its different local development plans into one ‘live’ map-based document that supports delivery on the ground.”

Councillor George Farlow, Vice Chair of the Planning, Environment and Development Committee, who collected the commendation with, Malcolm Macleod, Head of Planning said, “The Highland-wide Local Development Plan is a document which has and will continue to deliver sustainable economic growth across Highland. This commendation is an excellent achievement and rewards the hard work which has been put into delivering this ambitious plan which will help to grow and strengthen communities.”

In presenting the award Derek Mackay, Minister for Local Government and Planning said, "I congratulate The Highland Council’s Highland-wide Local Development Plan on their commendation at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning. This is the first year that I have had the pleasure of being involved in the awards, and I was struck by the high number of good quality applications, and the innovation and hard work that has clearly gone into these projects. Such good applications are a testament to the continued hard work of the profession, and how important it is for us to promote, highlight and celebrate success. Given the standard of the competition, the Highland-wide Local Development Plan’s commendation is all the more impressive, and I congratulate everyone involved."

We must step up our involvement in how Policy is made

Recommended reading - short factsheets and packed with interesting stuff

I became aware of the info below today, via  my feed to the 'Development Planning in Highland' blog:

'Learning Resources - Development Economics and Viability'

...The Government is committed to building the development economics and viability skills of planning authorities and others who are involved in bringing development to fruition. The attached resources are designed to provide a working knowledge of development economics and viability, with accompanying policy context, and to assist with clarifying terminology commonly used by the development sector.

These are stage one, of a suite of resources - there will be more coming in later months. And we will be also distributing a print version of these in the coming weeks.

Glossary - Development

Glossary - Development Finance

Factsheet - Development Viability

Factsheet - Economic Growth and the Development Sector

Extracts from a couple of links above - (very abridged)

'ECONOMIC GROWTH & THE DEVELOPMENT SECTOR FACTSHEET'

...Since first elected in 2007, the Government’s purpose has been increasing sustainable economic growth. 

 ...The development industry is a major contributor  to the Scottish economy, both in terms of wealth generation, and in terms of job creation: 

...The construction of high quality built space, is vital in attracting inward investment to Scotland.  Businesses seeking to locate in Scotland  require premises and accommodation for their workers.   

...In recent years, the development sector has been hard hit by  the global banking crisis, and subsequent recession.  

...The Government has been leading a range of work to ensure that the planning system can assist in delivering good development, and that planning can support development even in challenging times (Link to government webpage )

...Providing certainty through  consistency of advice, process and decision-making.  Business values certainty.  If developers are clear about expectations on them from the outset, they can adjust their business plans accordingly and pursue their proposals with a degree of confidence.  It is the downstream ‘surprises’ and additional or unexpected requests which can cause delays and disputes, and incur costs for all;

...The planning system guides the future development and use of land, ensuring that this occurs in suitable, sustainable locations. It provides strong support for economic development, where it is consistent with other national and local policies. (APTSec Highlight)

'Development viability Factsheet'

..Delivering development requires the involvement  of many parties.  Their actions can have a significant impact on the viability  of a development – ie whether  it is capable of coming to fruition or not.   

It is therefore important to  have an understanding of the economics of development and an awareness of how our actions can impact on delivery.  This document provides a brief outline of some key points.

Why did I highlight the paragraph above? 

Because 'advice' and 'certainty' is provided through policy and we must ensure that not only do we take part in setting policy (through Local Plan consultations), but that the procedures and processes for setting policy are fair, just, robust, easily understood and capable of being influenced by all