January 2024 Planning Democracy have released two recent webinars.
Update April 2024- The following two links to webinars are not working- will be updated.
The first session Understanding Scotland’s New Planning System was delivered by Alasdair Edwards: a Principal Reporter at the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government (DPEA).
Alasdair went through how the Planning System works, including how the new Local Development Plan process works. gives you a swift history of planning and some recent changes, information about development plans of all types including the National Planning Framework, Local Development Plans and Local Place Plans. It also gives you a whistle stop tour of the work of the DPEA
The second session National Planning Framework 4 – How have things changed? went into detail about the new strengthened National Planning Framework and explained how it might help to make development more people and planet friendly. This session was delivered by Clare Symonds from Planning Democracy and Nikki Sinclair from APRS.
Community Councils and Planning
Planning Democracy have now published a report on the outcomes of a recent community council focus group on planning issues.
Following a survey of community councillors on planning issues, Planning Democracy and a small focus group discussed planning issues in more depth, including suggestions for improvement from the community councillors who attended the event.
The broad aims of the session were
a. To better understand how Community Councillors view planning and its challenges
b. To better understand the barriers to change for community councils
c. To begin developing our understanding of people’s understanding of public interest
d. To understand how Planning Democracy can better work with community councils to bring about change and ensure our advocacy work is informed by them
You can read the full report on the Planning Democracy website.
General Planning Information
The Planning series, produced by the Scottish Government. consists of:
- Scottish Planning Policies (SPP) provide statements of Scottish Government policy on nationally important land use and other planning matters, supported where appropriate by a locational framework.
- National Planning Framework 4(NPF4) is a long term plan for Scotland that was laid before the Scottish Parliament published February 2023
- Planning Circulars, which also provide statements of Scottish Government policy, contain guidance on policy implementation through legislative or procedural change.
- Planning Advice Notes (PANs) provide advice on good practice and other relevant information.
- The Planning Advice Note which contains information about masterplans is PAN83
Further information on the Scottish Government's role in the planning system is available on
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/planning.
