Changes will improve our planning process
Dear Editor Before the last election, the Scottish Conservatives made a promise to be the strong opposition to the SNP and hold the Scottish Government to account.
The new planning bill which was passed by Holyrood recently is a good example of where we have used our position to improve government policy.
As someone who served for nearly two decades as a local councillor, I am acutely aware of the challenges that arise from the planning system and have always been especially enthusiastic to engage with our residents and all members of our communities.
Also, most people I believe, realise that we simply need more homes and are therefore supportive of good-quality development if the right infrastructure is put in place to support it.
But until now it has all too often seemed that the views of our communities are largely ignored in the planning process. Big developers seem to get away with largescale, poorly designed schemes in the face of widespread opposition and where there is insufficient capacity in our schools, health service and roads network. This is not fair, and something had to be done about it.
We looked seriously at proposals for what some prefer to call an “equal right of appeal” that would allow communities to challenge some decisions to the Scottish Government but on close examination – and by possessing actual past experience of the process – we concluded such a change would simply slow up the planning process and stifle development.
But it was also clear that maintaining the status quo was not an option. We wanted to seek a compromise and balance the need for more housing and development with giving a greater voice to our communities. To achieve this, we put forward an amendment for mediation between developers and communities to be an integral part of the whole planning process.
Our party understands attempting to bring two very different points of view together can often be difficult, but by trying to find areas of common ground early on we can try to address any issues that our communities might have before developers obtain their planning permission.
I was very pleased that we were successful in getting this amendment added to the bill.
Another positive development with this bill is the introduction of Local Place Plans, which will allow communities to have a greater say on setting the priorities for development in their area. We managed to strengthen these to ensure that our councils must take proper account of them when developing their own Local Development Plans.
Good planning requires our communities, developers and councils to work together to help build the houses we need whilst taking into account the ambitions of our communities.
Whilst there are never going to be any perfect solutions the changes in this bill will very much help to improve our collective planning process for the future.
Alexander Stewart MSP for Scottish Conservative and Unionist (Mid Scotland and Fife) Spokesperson and Shadow Minister for Local Government