The Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland’s West of Scotland Chapter recently organised a panel discussion on Local Place Planning, expertly organised by Rim Chouaib. With a wealth of experience represented on the panel - planners Alistair Gemmell of North Ayrshire Council, Michael Ward of Glasgow City Council, Gregor Henderson of Kevin Murray Associates and me - and amongst participants, there was an excellent wide ranging discussion. 

The many topics covered included Place Plans’ impacts on inequalities and public services, different approaches to registration amongst local authorities, the changing role of planners, and much more besides. 

Rather than try - and inevitably fail - to do justice to the breadth and detail of the discussion, I’ll simply share the three reflections that I related in my panel contribution, from my experience of working on around 15 Local Place Plans.

The big difference between Local Place Plans and other plans is that Local Place Plans are firmly focussed on community aspirations.

The National Planning Framework puts the national interest first. 

Local Development Plans are a local reflection of national planning policy and have to take account of a range of evidence and stakeholders, with community aspirations being just part of the mix.

Masterplans, development frameworks and other similar non-statutory plans show how development will be implemented.

Local Place Plans are the one and only mechanism in the planning system for local communities to put their aspirations forward.

That may be stating the obvious, but it is critically important.  The unique role of Local Place Plans means that when planners are helping to write a Local Place Plan, our role is very different from writing a National Planning Framework, a Local Development Plan or a masterplan.  For me, the starting point is not what the government wants or what our planning training says.  Instead, it’s to ask the community what they want, and then work out with them how to translate their aspirations into a plan.

Yes, Local Place Plans must reflect community aspirations.  But the powers that be are more likely to get behind a plan if it reflects current policy agendas like climate action, health and wellbeing, community wealth building etc. 

So, although Local Place Plans should be about community aspirations, the way they are framed is really important. 

A plan is more likely to be supported if it’s a positive document that supports delivery of national policy.  For example, framing it as useful evidence to feed into public sector decision making (planning and other services, as former Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes makes really clear in her Foreword to the Black Isle Local Place Plan) and an indication of consensus around local priorities (which helps to de-risk support from funders or the public sector). 

The point is, a strong plan will be based on community aspirations and demonstrate how it will deliver national agendas, locally.

For me, Local Place Plans are a great opportunity for people and organisations to coalesce around a vision for a place, rather than simply being a bag of suggestions about planning and land use. 

The clue is in the title: Local Place Plans. 

As Local Place Planning practice has evolved over the last couple of years, I’ve seen more and more Local Place Plans put the “place” into “planning” - by covering public services, infrastructure, transport, jobs, business, access to housing, maintenance of public space, or indeed anything which affects the quality and experience of a place.

In Balloch on Loch Lomond, for example, enabled by far-sighted support from the National Park and West Dunbartonshire Council, the community has put together a very different vision for the future than that offered by the rejected commercial Flamingoland. At one of Scotland’s most iconic destinations, the community’s vision prioritises nature restoration and community wealth building. Some of that involves planning and land use proposals. All of it involves improving place. 

Closer to home, in Barmulloch and Robroyston in north-east Glasgow, the community’s greenspace-only Local Place Plan (funded by Glasgow City Council) has created a positive vision for the area’s neglected parks as being active, cared-for places that build pride, join and enhance communities - rather than barriers between communities which people consciously avoid because they feel unsafe.

In short, by articulating a vision for place, Local Place Plans offer huge potential for planning to engage much more about what people care about. And with the current round of Local Development Plans due to completed in a couple of years’ time, planners’ attention is due to refocus on delivery - a great opportunity for the profession to realise that potential.

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