Planning summitto givepublic moresay

A summit to discuss how the planning system should be reformed to give communities more of a say has taken place with local campaign groups and community councils.

The event took place last Friday in Bridge of Allan hosted by Green MSP Mark Ruskell and featured a presentation and discussion with the national campaign group Planning Democracy who are working to strengthen community rights in the planning system.

Representatives from Cambusbarron, Dunblane and Bridge of Allan Community Councils fed back their experiences fighting controversial developments alongside campaign groups, individuals, and political parties.

Discussion took place about the forthcoming Scottish Government Planning Bill and what kind of changes could be proposed to ‘level the playing field’ between communities and developers.

Mark Ruskell said, “I’m grateful to everyone for a lively and productive discussion about how we make the planning system in Scotland fairer. Communities in the Stirling area have put in a vast effort to engage with the Local Development Plan and the many recent planning applications, appeals, hearings and public inquiries.

“How communities get supported with technical expertise and funding to do this work should be an important consideration in the new Planning Bill.

“We also discussed about how a community right of appeal could work and how such a right is helping to changing the culture of developers in Ireland so they listen to communities earlier on in the process.

“There were lots of ideas which can feed into the Bill next year and help level the playing field between developers and communities.”