In the month that marks World Town Planning Day, and which this year also included COP 26, this November’s Spotlights sees a continued focus on the power of planning to transform the places we live, work and play in response to the climate crisis, and to ensure the long-term sustainable use of land in the public interest.

On Holyrood

Draft NPF4 – as highlighted in our blog from earlier this month, the Scottish Government has now published its draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) for consultation, the opening text of which highlights that the ways in which we live, learn, work and play in the future will need to be consistent with achieving net zero emissions and nature recovery. To this end, the draft introduces requirements for, amongst other things, all developments to be designed to minimise emissions over their life cycle, and for planning authorities to give significant weight to the global climate emergency when making planning decisions. At the same time, the draft provides support for planning applications that create more town centre homes, and those which help to reuse vacant and derelict land, as well as for the creation of 20-minute neighbourhoods, where services are easily accessible on foot or by bicycle. Full details of the proposals, along with information on how to get involved in the consultation (including through a series of informal facilitated on-line events) are available here. The consultation is ongoing until 31 March 2022, and we would encourage everyone to take an interest in this.

Chief Planner Letter: stakeholder update – in their first letter to planning stakeholders since their appointments earlier this year, Planning Minister Tom Arthur and Chief Planner Fiona Simpson have issued an update on guidance and legislation in place during the pandemic and ongoing work of the Scottish Government’s Planning and Architecture Division. In particular, this advises that:

– continuing a position first introduced in March 2020, the Scottish Government continues to support the relaxation of planning controls to help businesses and services respond to the coronavirus pandemic where reasonable and appropriate, but is now aiming to withdraw their guidance in this regard at the end of September 2022. As such, planning permission will be required if any development implemented under the relaxation is to continue in place beyond then and, while September 2022 may currently seem like a long way away, anyone in this position would be advised to apply for consent sooner rather than later!

– also related to the response to the coronavirus pandemic, temporary permitted development rights which, broadly speaking, allow the creation of emergency facilities by or on behalf of local authorities or health service bodies, and which were due to expire on 31 December this year, are to be extended to mid-2022, with legislation to this effect to be laid in the Scottish Parliament shortly.

– after much of the work on implementing the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and progressing wider planning reforms had been paused during the coronavirus pandemic, an updated Transforming Planning in Practice work programme has been published, with the Scottish Government’s intention being for most sections of the 2019 Act to be in force by the end of 2022.

Scottish budget 2021/22 – in last month’s Spotlights, we highlighted some of the implications of the UK budget for planning and placemaking. This month, the Royal Town Planning Institute Scotland and Heads of Planning Scotland have written to the Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, requesting that consideration be given to increasing resources available to planning authorities. Whilst it is recognised that the proposed increase in planning fees (the regulations for which are expected to be laid before Parliament by the end of the year) will bring some additional resources, they say this is not sufficient on its own to redress years of disinvestment in planning and the shortage of planning staff, both of which are essential for planning to play its role in, amongst other things, facilitating post Covid recovery and accelerating progress to a zero carbon economy.

Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement review: consultation – having published the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement in September 2017, the Scottish Government is now looking to gather views on this from stakeholders and the public to inform whether any revisions are required, with consultation responses invited until 28 January 2022. The review includes a proposed change to the Statement’s vision such that, as with the draft NPF4, this would support a just transition to net zero, although no changes are proposed to the land use principles that underpin that vision. Whilst not explicitly planning related, the Statement’s vision with regards to the contribution that land can make to the transition to net zero, and to a modern and successful country as a whole, clearly aligns with the aspirations of the planning system in these regards and, in the interest of delivering a joined up approach on this, we would again encourage anyone with an interest in planning to respond to the consultation, details of which are available here.

On other jurisdictions

Second homes and short-term holiday lets in Wales – being very aware of the planning issues associated with second homes and short-term holiday lets in Scotland (on the latter in particular, see our blog We’re all goin’ on a summer holiday), we were interested to see that the Welsh Government is consulting on changes to the planning regime there that would introduce new use classes for such uses. This would be accompanied by amendments to permitted development rights to allow changes between the new use classes, but it would be open to planning authorities to remove permitted development rights such that planning permission would be needed for any changes between a property’s use as a private home, a secondary home or short-term holiday let. A phased pilot of the proposed regime is also proposed, with this expected to be introduced in Dyfor, in Gwynedd, in January next year, and we will certainly be watching what happens with that with interest.

On local government

Outdoor seating areas in Aberdeen – the Scottish Government’s ongoing support for the relaxation of planning controls in response to the Coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, Aberdeen City Council has issued a press release advising businesses with outdoor seating areas in the city that normal requirements for planning permission, and other consents, for these will be re-instated from 25 January 2022. It remains to be seen if this advice changes in light of the Scottish Government’s announcement that it intends to extend their relaxation until September next year but, meantime, any businesses with outdoor spaces which don’t currently have planning permission should prepare to apply for this by the January deadline. And, if we can be of any help in this regard, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Car free zones in Glasgow and Aberdeen – following approaches taken by cities elsewhere across the world, this month has seen progress towards the creation of car free zones in both Glasgow and Aberdeen, with:

– a core area within Glasgow city centre to become restricted to public transport only in the next five years, and the Council leader having announced that £30bn will be spent over the next ten years to help achieve an ambitious target of ‘net zero living’ by 2030; and

– plans for the pedestrianisation of Union Street in Aberdeen having been approved by Councillors, and further plans to pedestrianise Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate between Harriet Street and Flourmill Lane also to be progressed.

While the environmental benefits of these schemes are to be welcomed, concerns have been raised on the impact that the pedestrianisation of Union Street could have on people with disabilities and others who rely on public transport to access Aberdeen city centre, and these concerns will need to be addressed in the process of drawing up detailed designs for the proposals. For more on which, watch this space.

Aberdeen city centre masterplan – the pedestrianisation of Union Street and other parts of Aberdeen city centre highlighted above are not projects devised or to be implemented in isolation, but are a fundamental element of the planned £150m regeneration of the city centre and Aberdeen beach area set out in the updated city centre masterplan (for which the Council received £20m from the Levelling Up fund, as noted in last month’s Spotlights). Key masterplan projects, including a new indoor market, the redevelopment of the former Police Scotland headquarters and a new stadium for Aberdeen Football Club at the beach were all approved this month, having been hailed by Councillors as being “truly transformative” for the city.  With this being our home city, we will look forward to what the future brings.

Inverness city centre vision – this month has also seen the City of Inverness Area Committee of The Highland Council agree an ambitious draft vision for Inverness city centre for public consultation, in terms of which the city centre is to be “an attractive, greener, high-footfall place that people can comfortably live, work and visit for a wide range of services, facilities and spend their leisure time”. The consultation document, which has been prepared through the City’s Area Recovery Group as part of a suite of research, includes a detailed framework to support and deliver the vision (including the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan), with projects identified to achieve that very much reflecting the ambitions of NPF4 in seeking to bring more people to live and work in the city centre and make public places feel safe, welcoming and comfortable to spend time in, as well as being zero carbon. In good planning style, the vision includes a map highlighting recovery projects and opportunities, and opportunities to improve accessibility and connectively. We will of course provide further updates when the consultation is formally opened.

On potential future planning applications

Global climate change museum – although not yet at the planning application stage, it felt like it would be wrong for this month to pass without noting the announcement of potential plans for Greenock’s Victoria Harbour to be the location of a new a World Museum of the Sea and Climate Change, with COP 26 having been identified as a catalyst for this. As a collaboration between the US based Smithsonian-affiliated Bay Ecotarium and Inverclyde Council, this seeks to continue the role of the Clyde as the lifeblood of the area through the creation of a global centre of excellence in the importance of climate change and protecting the world’s oceans, and we look forward to seeing how this project progresses.

On us

This month, we’re delighted to announce that Susan Caldwell, of Caldwell Virtual Solutions, will be joining the Aurora Planning team as a virtual assistant to help streamline our admin processes and procedures over the next three months. Susan’s strengths are in bringing order to chaos and being a master ‘figureitouter’, so we’re looking forward to everything running very smoothly in the months to come!

If we can help with any aspect of the planning process, please visit our website or email us at info@auroraplanning.co.uk. If you would like to keep up to date with our blogs and bulletins, sign up using the form below.

Thanks for reading!

Pippa and Maggie

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