nick wright planning
Archive
Welcome to dedicated archive chronicaling all of the analysis and projects posts published on the site to date. You can easily navigate through the archive chronologically by clicking the below years.
training Councillors about planning
05 Dec 2007
This year has witnessed the first concerted effort to train local authority Councillors about planning. This might seem somewhat strange, since Councillors have been legally responsible for deciding planning applications and preparing development plans – Structure Plans and Local Plans – since 1947. Like so many aspects of British...
Read More...scottish economic strategy | a new focus for community engagement
04 Dec 2007
We now have a new suite of spending plans and national policy from the Scottish Government, focussed on the Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007 and the Government Economic Strategy. Planning has come of age again. Both documents recognise the twin contribution that planning has towards the Scottish Government's 'Purpose'...
Read More...Glasgow in 2057
15 Nov 2007
What will Glasgow look like in 2057? The visions of budding young architects from Glasgow School of Art are offered at an exhibition this week, the culmination of an intensive 5 week project which, in the words of the course leader Fred Harvey, is "challenging 60 of the brightest...
Read More...strategic transport planning in Ayrshire
15 Nov 2007
This Scottish Executive research project took place in 2005-06. The aim was to establish how long-term investment in new transport infrastructure and services could contribute to economic regeneration in Ayrshire. The backdrop to the research was a recognition that the Ayrshire economy was not moving as quickly as it...
Read More...young planners
25 Oct 2007
The Royal Town Planning Institute’s 2007 Young Planners Conference was held in Glasgow. Being chairman of Planning Aid for Scotland was apparently enough for the organisers to invite me to contribute a piece to a panel session entitled “Climate change: making a difference”. Taking a broad definition of climate,...
Read More..."but the public can't think strategically..."
22 Oct 2007
A common refrain amongst the planning profession, even my more enlightened colleagues. But I believe this myth has no place in 21st century planning. Over the last five years, reforms to the statutory planning systems throughout the UK have put great emphasis on community engagement. This isn't just about...
Read More...redesigning Clydebank
29 Sep 2007
I’m helping Clydebank re-built, an urban regeneration company in Clydebank, with briefs and tendering for design teams for some of their key sites along the Clyde Waterfront – an enterprise centre providing start-up office space, Housing Association flats, and industrial workshops. We’re looking for a top quality design combined...
Read More...Out There... walking and cycling in Renfrewshire
21 Sep 2007
Not strictly planning, but I'm proud of these popular guidebooks that I researched, wrote and photographed for Renfrewshire Council's Planning Department over the last couple of years. The graphic design is by Aileen McDonald. The aim of the guidebooks is to get local people out and about enjoying the stunning...
Read More...Global Cities at the Tate Modern
21 Jul 2007
The Global Cities exhibition at the Tate Modern proves that the public can be engaged in thorny questions of future planning strategy. It poses really big questions about the future of cities - diversity, community cohesion, density, coping with growth. Although it doesn’t suggest many answers, that doesn’t appear...
Read More...Keswick town centre | community development and masterplanning
18 Jul 2007
As part of a larger team producing a town centre masterplan for Keswick, led by Willie Miller Urban Design, I had a fascinating role assessing the part that the local community could play in delivering the masterplan. This was a rare opportunity to go beyond asking what the community...
Read More...planning aid for scotland | review 06-07
05 Jun 2007
Here's my Foreword to Planning Aid for Scotland's Annual Review, written in my role as chairman... Scottish planning has had a busy year. We have new planning legislation which contains the promise of a new more efficient planning system with greater levels of community engagement than have ever been achieved...
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