Democratic plan

Kevin Stewart’s call for positive change to Scotland’s planning system is welcome (‘We

have a rare opportunity to shape the future of planning in Scotland’, Scotsman online, September 8).

Unfortunately the Minister appears to view communities as barriers to investment rather than equal partners with a long term interest in the future of their places.

His certainty that the solution to public mistrust does not lie in changes being made at the end of the planning process betrays either wilful ignorance or a lack of understanding of the system he oversees.

Scotland’s planning system allows decisions on applications to differ from agreed fiveyear plans. So, no matter how much effort communities put into shaping these plans early on, subsequent developments can still depart from them. This undermines and frustrates community efforts to be proactive.

At present, developers have the right to appeal any decision they do not like, while the community cannot challenge even the most blatant departure from an approved plan

This incentivises speculative applications that foster mistrust and undermine longterm thinking, which ultimately is bad for the economy and growth.

Far from exacerbating conflict and undermining investor confidence, addressing this glaring inequality would be a powerful means of encouraging the right kind of development in the right places; bringing people and profit together rather than pitting them against one another.

CLARE SYMONDS Chair, Planning Democracy