Development Planning in Highland

Sandown, Nairn Charrette End of Day One

2012-01-31T20:53:00.001Z

Following the launch evening hosted by Chief Planner at the Scottish Government, Jim McKinnon, the design charrette to discuss the future of Sandown in Nairn successfully got underway today.

With a steady flow of visitors, the first half of the day was spent examining the site’s assets and context including discussion about what makes the site special and its landscape framework. This led to initial suggestions and ideas being drawn up with the facilitators, Ironside Farrar, encouraged by such a high level of positive input from those attending.

As many people as possible are encouraged to attend over the next two days – the outcomes from today’s sessions will be available to view in the Nairn Community Centre this evening.

The remainder of the charrette will be split as follows:

CHARRETTE DAY 2, Wednesday 1 February 2012: Designing Sustainable Communities

10.00am – 10.15am INTRODUCTION Summary of Day 1 & Key issues for Day 2
10.15am – 11.15am SESSION 5: Community Infrastructure
Meeting the Needs of Communities/ Connecting communities (Local Facilities /Education/Allotments)

11.15am – 11.30am COFFEE BREAK / Discussion

11.30am – 12.30am SESSION 6: Urban Form & Creating the Structure Developing ideas around urban form and structure. Corridors of movement /transport /gateways/ etc.

12.30am – 2.00pm LUNCH BREAK

2.00pm - 3.00pm SESSION 7: Design Quality & Placemaking. Exploring quality of place, urban design, design of streets, greenspace provision, environmental safeguards, etc.

3.00pm – 3.15pm COFFEE BREAK Discussion

3.15pm – 4.15pm SESSION 8: Conceptual Plan / Masterplanning. Creating a broad ‘ideas plan and layout’ & exploring any appropriate options & feasibility
Around 4.30pm REVIEW & SUMMARY - Reviewing the outcomes & looking forward
5pm-6pm Design Surgery - One to one meet the consultants

CHARRETTE DAY 3, Thursday 2 February 2012: Emerging Design Brief

10.00am – 10.15am INTRODUCTION. Summary of Day 2 & Key issues for Day3
10.15am – 11.15am Session 9: Reviewing the Conceptual Plan(s). Exploring thoughts and ideas on the Concept (s) and seeking agreement on a single concept/layout.

11.15am – 11.30am COFFEE BREAK / Discussion

11.30am – 12.30am SESSION 10: Developing the Concept. Developing the Concept & adding detail and defining quality elements.

12.30am – 2.00pm LUNCH BREAK

2.00pm - 3.00pm SESSION 11: Promoting Sustainable Choices & Living. Reviewing opportunity to enhance adaptability, add new thinking and provide support for sustainable lifestyles

3.00pm – 3.15pm COFFEE BREAK/ Discussion

3.15pm – 4.15pm SESSION 12: Outcomes to inform Design Brief. Reviewing Design Outcomes and noting any qualifications / further studies and information needs.
Around 4.30pm REVIEW & SUMMARY- Drawing together the outputs and design thoughts. Final Reporting. Conclusion & advising on Next Steps & Way Forward

Getting Involved

2012-01-16T20:35:00.001Z

Now is a great time to let us know your contact details so we can keep you up to date and get you involved in planning for the future of Highland.

Over the coming year we will be carrying out consultation on a number of key documents including:

Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan;
On-shore Wind Energy: Supplementary Guidance;
Developer Contributions: Supplementary Guidance; and
Residential Layout and Design: Supplementary Guidance.

So why not get in touch with your name, e-mail address and address and we will keep you up to date with how you can get involved. E-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk with your details.

From mid-February we will be carrying out events including drop in sessions and workshops for each of the settlements covered by maps in the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan to help you have your say on how you would like to see your community develop.

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter (@highlanddevplan) and Facebook (search HighlandDevPlans) as well as checking back our Blog.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee - January 18 2012

2012-01-15T14:04:00.003Z

The agenda for the next meeting of The Highland Council's Planning, Environment and Development Committee is now available on the Council's website by clicking here.

Key development planning items include:

Item 8. Highland-wide Local Development Plan – Report of Examination and Approval of Procedures to Adoption

Item 9. Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan – Approval of Main Issues Report and Draft for Consultation

Appendix 1 (Part1)

Appendix 2 (Part2)

Item 10. Letter from Chief Planner – Occupancy Restrictions and Rural Housing

11. Onshore Wind Energy – Outcome of Consultation

12. Inverness City Centre Development Brief

13. Sandown Development Brief

Don't forget you can watch the committee online from 10:30am on the day of committee by clicking here.

Highland wide Local Development Plan - Report of Examination

2012-01-15T13:54:00.000Z

On 20th December 2011, The Highland Council received the Report of Examination for the Highland wide Local Development Plan. You can view the report here.

We put out a press release just before Christmas outlining some of the key findings of the examination it is available here.

There has been a lot of press about the report of examination so why not have a look at some of the articles in the local and national media:

Inverness Courier
BBC - December 23rd 2011
BBC - December 29th 2011
BBC - January 3rd 2012

On Wednesday 18th January 2012, the Planning, Environment and Development Committee will consider the Report of Examination and following that the Development Plans Team are hoping to move swiftly towards the intention to adopt stage of the plan. You can view the report to PED Committee here.

Highland wide Local Development Plan: Examination - Reporters' Progress Report (October)

2011-10-31T15:10:00.003Z

"The reporters have been taking stock of the evidence heard during the hearing discussions last month, and looking at the subsequent submissions on the matters raised. Some have also taken leave. As the examination is now largely in its reporting stage, that is, writing up the individual responses to the schedule 4 documents, consideration is being given to any final information requests that might be needed from the council, and whether any site inspections are outstanding.

Proof reading is taking place for schedules already completed, and these are submitted to administrators compiling the final report. Once the schedules are completed there must be a comprehensive checking to ensure there are no internal contradictions that could invalidate any of the conclusions. Each reporter works independently on his allocated issues, but general discussions take place on overall policies and the approach to the plan.

The reporters still hope to make their end of November deadline, after which the final checking will be completed ready for submission to the council".

For more details of the Examination of the Highland wide Local Development Plan please see our website.

Highland wide Local Development Plan: Examination - Reporters' Progress Report (September)

2011-10-05T10:07:00.001+01:00

"The reporters held two hearing sessions on 27 and 28 September. Topics considered at the hearings include spatial strategy, population growth, housing land requirements and proposed developments in the Inverness-Nairn corridor. In all, some dozen representees took part in the hearings. The hearings have clarified and extended the reporters' understanding of the issues that were under debate.

The reporters have continued to seek additional written information from the council and from those parties who have made representations. They have completed unaccompanied inspections of a number of sites to which reference is made in representations. At this stage they do not envisage there being a need for any inquiry sessions or further hearings. Sections of the report are now being drafted."

Highland wide Local Development Plan: Examination - Reporters' Progress Report (August)

2011-08-31T09:35:00.000+01:00

"In August a fourth reporter Iain Lumsden was welcomed to the team. His wide experience will be valuable to the team members.

Work has continued in assessing the representations and how they will be handled. A large number of questions requiring additional information have been put to the council. These have all been answered quickly and comprehensively, for which the team is grateful. The first unaccompanied site inspections have been carried out, in the Nairn area. Many of the issues will not require additional information or site inspections but will be carried out on the basis of the information originally supplied of further written submissions.

It has also been decided that two hearings will be carried, looking at the overall strategy and housing requirements, and the way this has been translated into the development structure on the ground in the A96 corridor and Nairn area. These will be held in Inverness in late September, and parties invited have now been informed.

Actual writing up the reports will now actively be taking place. The team meets monthly and has agreed on administrative points to ensure matters such as consistency, format and proof reading are properly handled. The team is confident that the end of November deadline will be met."

For more details of the Examination of the Highland wide Local Development Plan please see our website.

Draft Houses in Multiple Occupation: Supplementary Guidance - Consultation

2011-08-12T11:01:00.000+01:00

For nearly three years The Highland Council has had in place a policy to manage the provision of houses in multiple occupation, which has been implemented through partnership working between council services across Highland.

Communities and developers are being invited to have their say in shaping a revised policy aimed at managing the provision of houses in multiple occupation in the Highlands. A consultation, organised by The Highland Council’s Planning and Development Service, runs from Monday 15th August 2011 until Monday 26 September 2011. Already the document has been sent to a number of groups, including community councils, homeless partnership groups, and all licensed houses in multiple occupation.

The document will be available to view in libraries, service points (from Monday) and online on the link below:
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/planning/developmentplans/developmentplanpolicyguidance/hmo.htm.

Input from the community is very important to us and we would particularly welcome your responses to the questions set out in the draft guidance, your preferred approach to the provision of houses in multiple occupation within Inverness City Centre and any further options for the provision of houses in multiple occupation you think that we should consider.

We would welcome any comments you may have on the draft supplementary guidance by 26th September 2011. Please make these comments to me by e-mail to devplans@highland.gov.uk.

If you have any questions about the guidance please do not hesitate to contact the Development Plans Team on devplans@highland.gov.uk or 01463 702261.

Highland wide Local Development Plan: Examination - Reporters' Progress Report (July)

2011-08-02T15:17:00.000+01:00

"The reporters' work during July has concentrated on the continuing examination of the representations and council responses to decide whether they have sufficient information to conduct the examination. A number of cases have already arisen where the council has been asked for further information in writing, and some answers have already been received. The reporters are also considering whether any oral sessions will be necessary. Initial assessments suggest only two or three issues may require such sessions. If so, potential participants will be informed in early August."

For more details of the Examination of the Highland wide Local Development Plan please see our website.

Online Local Development Plan - Outage for Essential Maintenance

2011-07-28T15:33:00.000+01:00

Please note that Highland Council's Online Local Development Plan will be unavailable from 4pm Thu 28 Jul until Mon 1 Aug for essential ICT infrastructure changes. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Highland Council and SNH Launch Green Networks Supplementary Guidance

2011-07-27T09:37:00.000+01:00

An innovative new approach to planning will guide future major development in the Highlands and in particular the Inverness and Inner Moray Firth areas. The Highland Council and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have been working to produce guidance on ‘green networks’ to complement the Highland-wide Local Development Plan.

Green networks are webs of green spaces and green corridors within and around towns and villages and the wider countryside. These help enhance an area's wildlife and quality of life for people in the area. The new guidance sets out how developers can take green networks into account in design proposals, the council’s role in assessing planning applications, and ways in which developer contributions can be sought.

These green networks will also make the most of the Highlands’ spectacular scenery and tourist attractions. This includes providing an opportunity for a new network of paths and trails to make it easier to access the outdoors. This connectivity is also vital to many plants and animals as it allows them to migrate from one place to another, or in the case of native plants, to colonise other areas.

Creating new active travel routes will provide more options for people who want to walk and bike to work or at the weekend. Both are essential in helping to tackle climate change.

Councillor Ian Ross, the council’s planning chairman, stressed: “Green networks are important in planning; we perhaps don’t think about them often enough. They are widespread on the continent and provide a stimulus for economic recovery by attracting businesses, home owners and visitors. We are pleased to have worked closely with Scottish Natural Heritage to deliver this important piece of guidance”.

And Anne Murray, the SNH officer leading the project, confirmed: “As the Inverness area is poised to undergo dramatic changes in the next few years – including development in the A96 corridor – we believe that green networks in and around the city are vital to providing a healthy environment and healthier communities. People, and of course wildlife, will benefit from the planned future green networks to extend from Inverness and Nairn to Helmsdale, and from Wick eastwards to Thurso as well as around Fort William and Portree”.

The new guidance can be viewed here: Green Networks Interim Supplementary Guidance.

Inner Moray Firth LDP - Black Isle Show 2011

2011-07-15T15:05:00.000+01:00

Lynn and Tim from the Development Plans Team will be at the Black Isle Show on the 3rd and 4th August. Why not pop along to find out more about the forthcoming Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan? You'll find Lynn (3rd Aug) and Tim (4th Aug) at stand number F94/G107 with the rest of the Highland Council Services.

Click here for more info on Highland Council's presence at the Black Isle Show and here for directions to the Black Isle Showground at Muir of Ord.

Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan Update

2011-07-04T15:46:00.001+01:00

The Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan’s “Call for Sites” attracted 478 representations regarding 450 potential, separate sites.

At the moment we’re coming to the end of the general awareness-raising phase, which includes a series of meetings with Community Councils.

Next up is the production of a draft of the Site Options for the larger towns and villages within the plan area, which will likely be published towards the end of 2011. This will form the basis of the next intensive round of public consultation, including a series of community workshops.

For a map of the Inner Moray Firth plan area, contact details and more, please see our website.

Council Promotes Sustainable Design in the Highlands

2011-06-06T10:27:00.002+01:00

The Highland Council has today (Monday) added a Sustainable Design Guide to its growing suite of Interim Supplementary Guidance which supports the forthcoming Highland wide Local Development Plan. This new guide replaces the Designing for Sustainability in the Highlands (2006) guidance note, and reaffirms the Planning and Development Service’s long-standing commitment to helping deliver sustainably-designed and constructed buildings throughout the Highland Council area.

Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of the Council’s Planning Environment and Development Committee said: “The Sustainable Design Guide has been produced to promote and encourage high quality and sustainably-designed buildings throughout the Highland area which will minimise impacts on the natural environment, help counter the effects of climate change and promote a greater use of local and renewable materials. The key sustainable design topics in the Guide are summarised in a practical Sustainable Design checklist which all potential developers and architects can use to prepare a Sustainable Design Statement to accompany their planning application.

“Taking a sustainable approach to design makes sound business sense for developers and provide financial benefits to the occupiers and users of buildings. For example, appropriate siting and passive design measures can make the most of the available daylight and add little or nothing to the capital cost of a development, but can help reduce the cost of heating and lighting the buildings”.

The new Sustainable Design Guide: Interim Supplementary Guidance can be found on the Highland Council website:

/yourenvironment/planning/developmentplans/developmentplanpolicyguidance/sdg.htm.

Reporters appointed for Highland wide Local Development Plan Examination

2011-05-27T10:18:00.004+01:00

The Scottish Ministers have announced the appointment of Mr Trevor A Croft BSc Dip TRP ARSGS FRSA MRTPI, and Mr Malcolm Mahony BA(Hons) MRTPI to carry out an examination on the Highland wide Local Development Plan. The examination will take place over the next six months with a final report presented to the Council at the end of the year.

More information about the examination process and other material is available on the Council’s web-site. This includes a summary of the issues raised and the Council’s response to them. People and organisations who have made comments on the Plan may be contacted during the process and will be notified on its conclusion.

HwLDP Examination page

Highland Development Plans on Facebook & Twitter

2011-05-18T11:42:00.002+01:00

For those of you with Facebook & Twitter accounts, you'll also find us over on those social networking sites, where we provide updates and related information on a more regular basis.

Just click the links below and 'like' our page/follow us to keep in touch:

Highland Local Development Plans on Facebook

Highland Local Development Plans on twitter

Draft Supplementary Guidance for Onshore Wind Energy Developments

2011-04-18T12:25:00.004+01:00

The Council has produced Draft Supplementary Guidance for Onshore Wind Energy for public consultation. This planning document supplements the Highland wide Local Development Plan. It will replace parts of the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy and Planning Guidelines (2006). The deadline for comments is 5pm on Friday 24 June 2011.

The consultation document is available here:

Draft Onshore Wind Energy Supplementary Guidance (pdf)

Larger versions of maps in the draft guidance will be available in due course.

Information about related screenings and assessments of the guidance (covering equalities, environment and European conservation site interests) will also be made available on this webpage in due course.

The Draft Supplementary Guidance is also available for reference in Highland Council Service Points, Libraries and Planning Offices during normal opening hours (from Tuesday 18th April)

If you have any questions, please contact the Development Plans Team on 01463 702259 or devplans@highland.gov.uk

If you would like to make any comments on the draft supplementary guidance please do so in writing by 5pm on Friday 24 June 2011 using the details below:

By email to: devplans@highland.gov.uk

By post to: Director of Planning and Development, Planning and Development Service, The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX

By fax to: (01463) 702298

You'll also find more information regarding Landscape and Visual Issues on our website. You might need to scroll down the page to find this additional information and associated linked documents.

Highland Council Development Plan Scheme 2011

2011-04-18T12:16:00.006+01:00

The Highland Council has submitted its latest Development Plan Scheme to Scottish Ministers. This document sets out the key pieces of work being undertaken by the Development Plans Team over the coming year, and sets out how people can get involved with these projects. The Council has a legal requirement to prepare this every year.

The Development Plan Scheme 2011 sets out timescales for adoption of the Highland wide Local Development Plan, and for the early stages of work on the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan. Other important projects over the coming months include the preparation of a development brief for Inverness City Centre and for the Sandown Lands in Nairn.

The DPS 2011 is available to view here: Development Plan Scheme 2011

The document is also available in libraries, Council Service Points and Area Planning Offices. Individuals and organisations are invited to let us know what they think of the DPS and suggest any amendments or improvements.

Highland wide Local Development Plan - Update

2011-03-09T15:03:00.003Z

Following the consultation on the proposed plan the Development Plans Team have been considering all of the responses to the plan. These are now available to view online by clicking here.

We have also been working to summarise and group these responses by the issues raised. In doing so we have put them into the Schedule 4 format required by the Scottish Government. They will be made available on the following link very soon:

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/planning/developmentplans/localplans/Representations.htm

The responses to this consultation are being reported to the Planning Environment and Development Committee on 16th March 2011.

Also going to committee on March 16th is our Development Plan Scheme 2011 which sets out the timetable for preparation of the Highland wide Local Development Plan, the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan, Supplementary Guidance and it also sets out how you can get involved in the preperation of the work by the Development Plans Team.

The agenda (including important reports on supplementary guidance) for Planning, Environment and Development Committee will be available on the link below from 11am tomorrow:

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/committees/strategiccommittees/planningenvironmentanddevelopmentcommittee/

Don't forget you can watch the Planning, Environment and Development Committee online from 10:30am on Wednesday 16th March, by clicking here.

New Planning Customer Satisfaction Survey

2011-02-11T11:52:00.005Z

The Highland Council's Planning & Development Service has launched a new Customer Satisfaction Survey. The Survey takes the form of a quick and simple online questionnaire (just 7 questions) and is intended to find out how we're doing and how we could improve the quality of the services we provide to our customers.

We hope you'll take a little time out and complete our survey below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QCMC9GD

Many thanks in advance!

Free "Planning for People" Training: March 12th, Dingwall

2011-02-03T14:40:00.006Z

Planning Aid for Scotland will be holding a FREE "Planning for People" training session in Dingwall:

Date & Time – 12th March 2011, 10am - Registration; 10.30am-3.30pm - Training.

Venue – Ross County Football Club, Victoria Park Stadium, Jubilee Road, Dingwall, IV15 9QZ

Details – This FREE training day is an introduction to planning for any community group or individual in the Highland area. This is an opportunity to learn more about the planning system and how to effectively engage in the system.

How to book: This is a free event, but places should be booked in advance. For more information on the training, or to book a place, please contact Nikola Miller at training@planningaidscotland.org.uk or by telephone on 0131 220 9736

“Call for Sites” for the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan

2011-01-31T15:14:00.005Z

The Highland Council is asking local communities, landowners and developers to help it identify land in the Inner Moray Firth which should be built on and which should not.

This “Call for Sites” is the first step towards an Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan which, along with the Highland wide Local Development Plan, will guide the Council's decisions on planning applications.

Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of the Planning, Environment and Development Committee, is urging local residents to get involved: "It is essential that this is a transparent process involving community interest from the start. We want communities to engage with us early before any decisions are taken. Everyone has a right to say what kind of place they want to live in.”

Councillor Ross also wishes people to think about the local implications of bigger issues. He added: “Although the new Plan will focus on which land in each town and village will be built on or protected, these decisions should be shaped by wider concerns and the need to address climate change, to use land more efficiently, to deliver affordable housing and make sure that enough land is made available in the right places to create employment.”

The new Plan will cover the City of Inverness, and Provost Jimmy Gray is eager that local opinions are sought. He said: “The new plan aims to implement the City Vision and ensure that new building integrates with new transport improvements in and around the City. It is vital therefore that people give their views on how best to link transport and development issue.”’

The deadline for site suggestions is the end of April 2011. They will then be assessed by the Council before being issued for further public consultation.

If you wish to make a suggestion, or you simply want to find out more, then please have a look at the Call for Sites Guide & Forms which are available via the Council’s web-site:

www.highland.gov.uk/imfldp

Or telephone Tim Stott on 01463-702265 to obtain a copy of the Guide and Forms.

The IMFLDP Team can also be contacted on email via imfldp@highland.gov.uk

Draft Supplementary Guidance Consultation

2011-01-24T13:18:00.006Z

An eight-week public consultation gets under way on Monday (24 January 2011) on two new planning documents produced by The Highland Council’s Planning Environment and Development Service, which provide guidance on the design of buildings as well the impact of developments on trees and woodland.

The draft Sustainable Design Guide encourages high quality and sustainably-designed buildings which will minimise impacts on the natural environment and help counter the effects of climate change and also promote greater use of local and renewable materials. The key sustainable design issues dealt with in the guide are summarised in a practical Sustainable Design Checklist which all potential developers and architects can use to prepare a Sustainable Design Statement to accompany their planning application.

This new guidance reaffirms the Planning and Development Service’s long-standing commitment to helping deliver sustainably designed and constructed buildings throughout the Highland Council area. Taking a sustainable approach to design can make sound business sense for developers as well as providing financial benefits to the occupiers and users of buildings. For example, sensible siting and passive design measures can make the most of the available daylight and add little or nothing to the capital cost of a development, but can help reduce the lifetime costs of heating and lighting the buildings.

The consultation will run from 24th January 2011 until 18th March 2011.

You can submit comments online, via e-mail or by post.

You can view the documents online, in service points, planning offices and libraries.

Read more in the press release or on our website.

For more information please contact the development plans team on 01463 702259 or email devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Website is back up and running

2010-11-30T07:44:00.002Z

The Highland Council website is back up and running so you can again view the Highland wide Local Development Plan and draft supplementary guidance which is available for public consultation on our website at:

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/planning/consultations.htm

Highland Council Website down

2010-11-29T12:35:00.003Z

We want to let everyone know that the Council website is currently down. Our IT team are working on the issue and hope to have the problem fixed as soon as possible.

In the mean time we have made the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan and Highland Green Networks: Draft Supplementary Guidance available through "Google Documents" on the link below (no sign in required):

Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzeW4dfwWyXANmJmYmY1M2MtN2YwMS00OWQyLTkzNzQtNmEyYzZmN2VjZWMx&hl=en

Highland Green Networks: Draft Supplementary Guidance

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzeW4dfwWyXAODc0ZjJhYmQtNDAxMC00YTk2LTgwMGYtMzFkNTEzMWQwY2Y1&hl=en

We hope to make all of the draft supplementary guidance available on Google Documents very soon.

You can still view the consultation documents in Highland Council service points, libraries and planning offices.

In addition we are not able to receive e-mails from external e-mail addresses. Therefore if you are wishing to submit your response to the consultation by e-mail please also send it to our temporary e-mail address of highlanddevplan@googlemail.com and to ensure we receive your response please also send a hard copy of your response by post to:

Development Plans Team

The Highland Council

Council Offices

Glenurquhart Road

Inverness

IV3 5NX

If you have any queries regarding the Highland wide Local Development Plan please do not hesitate to contact us on (01463) 702259.

Our IT team are working on the issue and hope to have the problem fixed as soon as possible.

HWLDP Consultation Event - Monday 22nd November

2010-11-16T13:52:00.009Z

We're coming towards the end of the Highland Wide Local Development Plans consultation events, with just the one Surgery planned for the coming week: Dingwall on Monday 22nd November. Details on how to make an appointment for the Surgery can be found over on the 'Events' section of our Facebook page: Highland Local Development Plans on facebook.com.

You can also follow us over on twitter if you prefer.

The full calendar of consultation events can also be found on the Highland Council website near the bottom of the page. The HWLDP consultation period ends on 3rd December so there's still time to give us your feedback on the proposed plan. Details of how to make a representation can be found here on our website (pdf).

We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan. If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

HWLDP Consultation Events - Monday 15th November

2010-11-09T14:58:00.010Z

We have a rash of Highland Wide Local Development Plans consultation events all coming up on the 15th of November throughout the Highland area. You'll find us during the day at: the Wick Assembly Rooms; the Council Offices, Drummuie, Golspie; Lochaber House and Gordon Square, Fort William and 100 High Street, Kingussie. There will also be two Joint Ward Forums held in Wick (Mackays Hotel) and Ft William (Lochaber House) on the evening of the 15th November.

You can find more details over on the 'Events' tab of our new Facebook page: Highland Local Development Plans on facebook.com. The full calendar of consultation events can also be found on the Highland Council website near the bottom of the page. We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan. If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

HWLDP Consultation Events w/c 8th November

2010-11-05T09:48:00.001Z

We have two Highland Wide Local Development Plans consultation events coming up in the next week in Caithness. We'll be in Wick Town Hall on the 8th and Caithness Horizons in Thurso on the 10th. You can find more details over on the 'Events' tab of our new Facebook page: Highland Local Development Plans on facebook.com.

The full calendar of consultation events can be found on the Highland Council website near the bottom of the page.We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

HWLDP Consultation Events w/c 1st November

2010-10-29T10:48:00.002+01:00

We have a number of Highland Wide Local Development Plans consultation events coming up in the next week in Portree (1st Nov), Ardersier & Beauly (both 4th Nov) which you can find over on the 'Events' tab of our new Facebook page: Highland Local Development Plans on facebook.com.

The full calendar of consultation events can be found on the Highland Council website near the bottom of the page.

We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Highland Development Plans on Facebook & Twitter

2010-10-26T13:42:00.003+01:00

For those of you with Facebook & Twitter accounts, you'll also find us over on those social networking sites.

Just click the links below and 'like' our page/follow us to keep in touch with what's happening:

Highland Local Development Plans on Facebook

Highland Development Plans Team on Twitter

HWLDP Consultation Events w/c 25 October

2010-10-25T15:34:00.009+01:00

We have a number of Highland Wide Local Development Plans consultation events coming up in the next week which you can find over on the 'Events' tab of our new Facebook page: Highland Local Development Plans on facebook.com.

We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Events this week (W/C 4/10/2010)

2010-10-04T07:55:00.004+01:00

Over the course of the week the following events will be taking place related to the Highland wide Local Development Plan:

4th October 2010 - Local Development Plan Surgery - Inverness (please book to make an appointment)
6th October 2010 - Local Development Plan Drop-in - Cawdor Comunity Centre (1pm-6pm)

There will also be a drop in session and special ward forum in Nairn for information on the Nairn Town Centre Draft Development Brief on 6th October 2010. The Drop in session starts at 2pm and ward forum at 7pm

We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

HwLDP Event Update

2010-09-28T07:51:00.003+01:00

The ward forum for Ward 13 - Aird and Loch Ness will now take place:

Date: 4th November 2010
Time: 7pm
Location: Priory Hotel, Beauly

At the forum there will be opportunity to discuss the Highland wide Local Development Plan and also the improvements to Beauly Square.

For the most up to date details on all Ward Forums in Highland please visit:
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/yourward/yearplanner2010.htm.

How to make a representation to the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-09-27T08:02:00.005+01:00

We have tried to make it as easy as possible to make your/your organisations views known about the Highland wide Local Development Plan and we have provided a number of ways to do this:

By Post:
You can write us a letter, clearly setting out which section(s) of the plan you are commenting on. You must include your name, organisation (if applicable) and address in your letter and send it to:
Director of Planning and Development
The Highland Council,
Council Headquarters,
Glenurquhart Road,
Inverness,
IV3 5NX

By Email:
You can write us an e-mail, clearly setting out which section(s) of the plan you are commenting on. You must include your name, organisation (if applicable) and address in your e-mail and send it to:
devplans@highland.gov.uk

By Fax:
You can send us a fax, clearly setting out which section(s) of the plan you are commenting on. You must include your name, organisation (if applicable) and address in your fax and send it to:
(01463) 702298

Online
You can now view the Plan online and make comments directly through the new Online Local Development Plan section of our website. To make a comment online you will need to register on our website http://planning.highland.gov.uk/oldp//docSelectAction.do?docId=104. [NB: OLDP will be offline from 16:00 28/07/2011 until 09:00 02/08/2011 for updates and maintenance]

Note: The Scottish Government state in Circular 1/2010 – Development Planning
"Representations by stakeholders and the general public should be concise (no more than 2,000 words plus any limited supporting productions), but should fully explain the issues that people wish to be considered at the examination. There is no automatic opportunity for parties to expand on their representation later in the process."

All responses must be recieved by 5pm 3rd December 2010.

If you have any questions on please contact the Development Plans Team on (01463) 702259 or devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Events this Week (w/c 27/09/2010)

2010-09-27T07:46:00.002+01:00

This week the consultation on the Highland wide Local Development Plan events begin. Over the course of the week the following events will be taking place:

27th September 2010 - Development Plan Surgery - Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, 9am-5pm - give us a call on 01463 7022259 to book an appointment.
28th September 2010 - East Sutherland and Edderton Ward Forum - Golspie Community Centre, 7:30pm
29th September 2010 - Development Plan Drop-in - Court House, Nairn, 1pm-6pm
29th September 2010 - Nairn Wad Forum - Court House, Nairn, 7pm.

We look forward to meeting you, hearing your views and answering questions you may have on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

If you have any questions about these events please give us a call on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan

2010-09-22T18:41:00.006+01:00

The consultation on the Highland wide Local Development Plan Proposed Plan will be starting this Friday - 24th September 2010. The consultation will run for 10 weeks and close at 5pm on 3rd December 2010.

From Friday, you will be able to view the Proposed Plan in a number of locations across Highland including Highland Council Service Points, Libraries and Planning Offices. You will also be able to view the plan on our website.

For the first time you will also be able to view and make comment on the plan using our new Online Local Development Plan, which includes interactive mapping of the plan area so you can see exactly what policies and proposals may affect you or your community.

During the consultation period the Development Plans Team will be at a number of events giving you an opportunity to have your say and ask any questions about the plan. These include:

Ward Forums

28th September - East Sutherland and Edderton
29th September - Nairn
25th October - Eilean a Cheo
27th October - Badenoch and Strathspey
27th October - Dingwall and Seaforth
28th October - Tain and Easter Ross
4th November 2010 - Aird and Loch Ness
11th November - Inverness City Forum
15th November - Caithness Joint Forum
15th November - Lochaber Joint Forum
29th November - Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh

Drop in sessions

29th September - Nairn
6th October - Cawdor
27th October - Tain
1st November - Portree
4th November - Ardersier
10th November - Thurso
11th November - Inverness
15th November - Fort William
15th November - Wick

Local Development Plan Surgeries - here you can make an appointment to discuss any issues you may have regarding the Local Development Plan with a member of the Development Plans Team.

27th September - Council Headquarters, Inverness
4th October - Inverness Service Point
1st November - Portree Community Centre
8th November - Town Hall, Wick
15th November - Council Offices, Drummuie, Golspie
15th November - Gordon Square, Fort William
15th November - High Street, Kingussie
22nd November - Council Offices, High Street, Dingwall
29th November - Court House, Nairn

We will post further details on Friday about how you can make a representation.

We have also produced a revised environmental report for the Highland wide Local Development Plan. We will post more about this on Friday. It will be available to view on our website and online and at Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness.

During this consultation period you will also be able to comment on a number of other important documents:

Green Networks: Draft Supplementary Guidance
Waste Management in New Developments: Draft Supplementary Guidance
Housing in the Countryside: Draft Supplementary Guidance
Housing in the Countryside: Draft Siting and Design Guidance
Special Landscape Area: Citations.

If you have any questions about the Highland wide Local Development Plan or any of the other documents mentioned in this post please contact the Development Plans Team on (01463) 702259 or devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Also for more information view the press release on the Council website.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee - 22nd September 2010 - Update

2010-09-22T18:33:00.002+01:00

At Planning, Environment and Development Committee today (22nd September 2010) the items on the Nairn Town Centre Developemnt Brief and the On-shore Wind Energy Supplementary Guidance were agreed.

A consultation on the Nairn Town Centre Development Brief is to commence on the 28th September 2010 - keep an eye out for further information on the consultation in next week's Nairnshire Telegraph. A Ward Forum on the Nairn Town Centre Development Brief will be taking place on 6th October 2010 at the Court House in Nairn.

The On-Shore Wind Energy: Supplementary Guidance work is continuing and it will be brought back to Planning, Environment and Development Committee on the 17th November 2010 before going out for public consultation.

You can view the archived webcast of today's committee from Friday 24th September here.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee 22nd September 2010

2010-09-17T16:01:00.002+01:00

The Agenda for the next meeting of The Highland Council's Planning, Environment and Development Committee is available online. You can view it by clicking here.

The meeting will take place at 10:30am on Wednesday 22nd September 2010.

There are some very important reports going before this committee including:

Supplementary Guidance: Onshore Wind Energy

The report sets out the work being undertaken to take that forward, presents a working draft of the guidance for Members’ information and seeks Committee’s agreement to next steps in working up the guidance and engaging interested parties.

Nairn Town Centre: Draft Development Brief

details of a Draft Nairn Town Centre Development Brief intended to update the Council’s planning policy for that part of the town that includes the Co-op/Somerfield supermarket and adjoining land, to be the basis for public consultation over a 4 week period.

Both of the above reports are very important in preparing updated planning policy in The Highland Council area.

You will be able to view a webcast of the committee meeting on the Council website by clicking here from 10:30am on 22nd September 2010. A few days after the Committee, the webcast will be archived and available to view at the same link.

If you have any questions about any of the above reports please contact us at devplans@highland.gov.uk or call 01463 702259

West Highland and Islands Local Plan - Adopted

2010-09-10T07:45:00.003+01:00

Yesterday (9/9/10), the West Highland and Islands Local Plan was adopted at the meeting of The Highland Council.

The West Highlands and Islands Local Plan replaces the Skye and Lochalsh, Lochaber and a small part of the Badenoch and Strathspey (west of Kinlochlaggan) Local Plans.

The adoption is subject to no further directions from Scottish Ministers or a Court of Session challenge on a point of procedure, the Plan will then be afforded its "full" statutory status as part of the Development Plan in the meaning accorded by the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended).

Copies of the adopted version of the Plan will be advertised, placed on public deposit and sent to Scottish Ministers.

You can view the report that went to before The Highland Council by clicking here.

If you have any questions about the West Highland and Islands Local Plan please contact us on 01463 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Black Isle Show and Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival

2010-08-20T09:11:00.002+01:00

The Development Plans Team were at the Black Isle Show and Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival at the beginning of August to give people the opportunity to learn more about the planning system in Scotland and what we do in the Highlands. There was opportunities to take part in activities, find out more about how we are planning for the future of Highland and let us know what you think.

There was a really positive response at both events with many people coming to speak to us about how planning affects their everyday lives and how they would like things to change in the future. There was a range of big issues raised many of which are considered in the Highland wide Local Development Plan including housing in the countryside, landscape impacts, renewable energy, tourism, affordable housing and transport. We also discussed individual site specific planning queries mainly related to single house developments and directed people toward more detailed advice from their local area planning office.

At both events we also had information on Planning Aid for Scotland, an independent charity. Planning Aid for Scotland help people understand, engage with and benefit from the planning system.

We ran competitions to win swim passes for Inverness Aquadome and tickets to a screening of choice at Eden Court Cinema. We will be notifying our winners over the coming days.

Thank you to all those who came to speak to us at the events, we appreciate all the feedback we recieved.

If anyone would like to know more about planning in Highland please do not hesitate to contact us.
E-mail: devplans@highland.gov.uk
Telephone: (01463) 702261

Moving forward with development planning in Highland

2010-08-11T15:33:00.002+01:00

See latest press release on the Highland wide Local Development Plan below:

Moving forward with development planning in Highland (11/08/10)

The public is being invited to have their say on the Highland-wide plan that will govern future developments in the Highlands, from the siting of major wind farms and industry to a new community along the A 96 corridor between Inverness and Nairn.

A 10-week public consultation on the Highland wide Local Development Plan will run between September and November.

Over the past year the Planning and Development Service has been working closely with other key public agencies, the development industry, statutory consultees and the general public to move from the Main Issues Report to the Proposed Plan. The Proposed Plan represents the Council’s view on what they would like to see adopted as the new land use framework for the area as a whole. Once adopted, the Highland wide Local Development Plan will replace the Highland Structure Plan approved in 2001 and update the existing local plans across the region.
The Highland Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee today (Wednesday) approved the plan, which will be available for public consultation.

Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of Planning, Environment and Development Committee said, “The Proposed Plan is the Big Picture for planning in the Highlands. It is about showing ambition and creating both community and economic development opportunities for the Highland Council Area as a whole.

“It will bring forward a consistent approach to planning policy and identify important opportunities for growth in Highland. The preparation of this plan to date has clearly demonstrated the benefits of working in partnership with a range of groups and individuals. Everyone will have their chance to have a say on its content as part of a public consultation starting early September. Following the consultation if there are any issues which have not been resolved then they will be considered by an independent Scottish Government reporter.”

-ends-

You can also view this press release on the Council website .

The Highland wide Local Development Plan at Planning, Environment and Development Committee

2010-08-11T15:19:00.003+01:00

The Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan was today (11th August 2010) put before members of the Planning, Environment and Development Committee. After a number of points were raised, members agreed the the reccomendations of the report put before them.

The points raised will be discussed between officers and, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, changes may be made prior to the document being issued for public consultation in line with Reccomendation ii of the report put before members which is available here.

The next step for the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan is public consultation. There will be more on this shortly.

If you have any questions about the Highland wide Local Development Plan please contact us on (01463) 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Supplementary Guidance and Technical Reports at Planning, Environment and Development Commitee

2010-08-11T15:10:00.003+01:00

A number of pieces of supplementary guidance and technical reports were put before Planning, Environment and Development Committee on the 11th August 2010. Members agreed the reccomendations to all the following reports, however in some cases there are to be changes commended by members prior to issuing for public consultation. The minutes of the committee (once published) will detail these commendations.

All of the above documents will soon be available for public consultation alongside the Highland wide Local Development Plan. If you have any questions about the above reports please contact us on (01463) 702259 or devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Inverness City Vision 2010

2010-08-11T14:50:00.003+01:00

At Inverness City Committee on Monday 9th August 2010, the reccomendations for the report on the Inverness City Vision 2010 were agreed subject to an executive summary being attached to the report. You can view the report put before members here.

The next step for the document was the Planning, Environment and Development Committee on Wednesday 11th August 2010, where after comments from members the reccomendations of the report were agreed. You can view the report put before members here.

Consultation on the City Vision will take place alongside the Highland wide Local Development Plan starting in September.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee - Today

2010-08-11T10:35:00.002+01:00

Planning, Environment and Development Committee is being held today at Council Headquarters, Inverness from 10:30am.

If you would like to watch the webcast of the committee please click the link below. The webcast will be archived and available to view again 3 working days after the committee on the same link.

http://www.highland.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_compact.php?a=44055&t=&m=wm&l=en_GB

You can view the agenda and papers online on the following link:

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/committees/strategiccommittees/planningenvironmentanddevelopmentcommittee/2010-08-11-ped-ag.htm

If you have any questions regarding any of the papers at this committee please do not hesitate to contact us on (01463) 702259.

Inverness City Vision 2010

2010-08-04T19:09:00.002+01:00

The Inverness City Committee will be asked to consider a progress report of the Inverness City Vision 2010 at their meeting on the 9th August 2010. You can view the report online here, it includes a draft of the Inverness City Vision 2010 which has been prepared in partnership with Architecture and Design Scotland. Members of the committee are invited to recommend to the Planning, Environment and Development Committee:

that the Inverness City Vision draft document be approved; and
that the Committee agree to the draft Inverness City Vision being made available for public consultation, in tandem with the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

We will update the blog with the outcome of the Committee on Monday.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee

2010-08-04T15:54:00.003+01:00

The Agenda for the next meeting of The Highland Council's Planning, Environment and Development Committee is available online from 11am today. You can view it by clicking here.

There are some very important reports going before this committee including:

Highland wide Local Development Plan: Proposed Plan
This report outlines the content of the Highland wide Local Development Plan Proposed Plan and asks members to approve the document which will be appended as Appendix 1 to be issued for public consultation for 10 weeks starting in September. This Booklet is available from the website.

Inverness City Vision
This report outlines the contents of the Inverness City Vision 2010, this is also being reported to the Inverness City Committee and asks members to approve it for public consultation alongside the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan.

Green Networks: Supplementary Guidance
This report provides an outline of Supplementary Guidance which has been drafted to ensure that green infrastructure is sufficiently considered in the development of the area. The guidance will cover the whole of the Highlands and in time we will map green networks throughout Highland. This document contains detailed information on the A96 Green Network and sets priorities for its delivery including an Inverness-Nairn Coastal trail. The draft supplementary guidance is available on the website and members are asked to approve it for public consultation alongside the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan.

Housing in the Countryside: Supplementary Guidance and Siting and Design Guidance
This report outlines the contents of revised supplementary guidance on Housing in the Countryside and additional guidance on siting and design are updates to the interim guidance adopted in 2009. Members are asked to approve it for public consultation alongside the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan.

Special Landscape Areas - Citations
This report outlines the Citations which have been produced for each of the Special Landscape Areas (formerly known as Areas of Great Landscape Value) in Highland. Members are asked to approve the the draft Citations for public consultation.

Draft Housing Land Audit 2010
This report advises Members on the progress of the preparation of the Highland Council’s Housing Land Audit. When completed the Audit provides an updated position on housing land availability within Highland showing the number of houses programmed for completion over the next ten years as well as future development sites along with the key constraints affecting development. This forms an important background paper to the consultation on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

All of the above reports are very important in preparing new planning policy in The Highland Council area. You will be able to view a webcast of the committee meeting on the Council website by clicking here from 10:30am on 11th August 2010 and a few days after the Committee the webcast will be archived and available to view at the same link.

If you have any questions about any of the above reports please contact us at devplans@highland.gov.uk or call 01463 702259

Come and meet the planners

2010-08-04T15:24:00.005+01:00

Staff from the Development Plans and Development Management teams will be at the Black Isle Show and Belladrum this week to raise the profile of planning in your area and will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the planning system.

Members of staff from both teams will be on hand with information about how to make a planning application, changes to planning in Highland and how you can get involved in the the planning system. We will also have information about Planning Aid Scotland, an independent charity who work with communities right across Scotland to help people understand and get involved in the planning system.

At the Black Isle Show we will be at stall F94/G107 all day Thursday 5th August and at Belladrum you can come and find us in the traders field on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th August. There will be a competition for young people and, for everyone who signs up for our newsletter or makes a written suggestion there will be a chance to win pairs of tickets to the screening of your choice at Eden Court Cinema.

If you can’t make it to either event, don’t worry as you will be able to keep up to date with the discussion by following us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/highlanddevplan, where there will be regular updates the over both events.

Meetings with Key Agencies

2010-08-04T15:16:00.004+01:00

Over the course of July we have been working to prepare the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan (more on this shortly). In doing this we have been in regular contact with our key agency partners specifically Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

On 20th July members of the team met with SNH to discuss specific policy wording for a number of our policies including Natural, Built & Cultural Heritage, Green Networks, Crofting and Habitats & Species.

On the 23rd July members of the team met with SEPA to discuss policy wording on issues such as Waste Management, Air Quality, Pollution and the Water Environment.

Both meetings were very productive and have had influence over the final content of the proposed plan which will be put before members of the Planning, Environment and Development Committee on 11th August 2010.

Meeting with Scottish Natural Heritage - 29th June 2010

2010-07-01T15:15:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday David, Katie and Simon met with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to discuss policies for the Highland wide Local Development Plan. Now that we are getting closer to the proposed plan these meetings are very important to getting the wordings of policies right.

At the meeting we discussed, renewable energy with a specific focus on the landscape matters associated with onshore wind energy. SNH's landscape specialists were on hand to give us additional help on how we can progress the Onshore Wind Energy Supplementary Guidance.

The discussion then moved onto wild land, what the policy would say and how it could be implimented and interpreted. Much of the discussion was related to landscape and the impact wild land has on the landscape.

The afternoon session began with Green Networks, the policy approach and the emerging supplementary guidance were key areas for discussion. The production of the guidance is something which is going to be key to the success of any policy and we have continued to work with SNH on both areas.

Following these main discussions the day was rounded up with updates on the other policy areas which SNH have an interest in including:

Access and Recreation;
Natural, Built and Cultural Heritage;
Geodiversity;
Biodiversity; and
Crofting.

This with other key agency meetings you can see on the blog have been of significant benefit as we have moved towards the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

Development Plan Scheme 2010

2010-06-22T11:38:00.002+01:00

We have just published on our website the new Development Plan Scheme (Summer 2010). You can view it by clicking here.

This has updated our previous Development Plan Scheme, which we published in April 2010, with the latest timescales for production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan, Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan and some pieces of Supplementary Guidance.

Over the next week we will be sending copies of the Development Plan Scheme to Community Councils and it will soon be available to view in your local Highland Council Service Point, leisure centre, jobcentre, local library, doctors surgery and your local post office.

If you are on our mailing list you will be recieving an e-mail soon with details of the Development Plan Scheme and also letting you know that to compliment the blog, and make it easier to get in touch with us, you can now follow us on Twitter or join the discussion on our Facebook Page.

If you have any questions or would like to request a hard copy of the Development Plan Scheme please call us on (01463) 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Meeting with SNH - 18th June 2010

2010-06-18T08:30:00.003+01:00

Yesterday (18th June 2010), David, Neil and Simon met with representatives from Scottish Natural Heritage to discuss progress on the Highland wide Local Development Plan with a specific focus on the assessments of the Plan.

First, we discussed Habitats Regulations Appraisal of the Plan, also known as Appropriate Assessment. This assessment looks at how policies and site allocations in the plan may have an impact on protected species and also the other reasons why sites have been allocated as a Natura site. You can find out more about Natura Sites in Highland at http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/international-designations/natura-sites/. We discussed our methodology for carrying out this assessment and the implications of new guidance SNH are producing on how to carry out appropriate assessments. We will be meeting with SNH again soon to discuss in more detail the impact each of the sites we proposed to allocated in the Highland wide Local Development Plan may have on Protected Species and how any impact can be mitigated.

Secondly, we discussed Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Plan. We have already done a lot of work on this to date and now we are busy refining the Assessment following comments from SNH and the other Consultation Authorities (Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Historic Scotland). What we discussed with SNH was their response to the Environmental Report and how this will be taken forward into the Revised Environmental Report which will accompany the Proposed Plan.

We will be meeting with SNH again shortly to consider the policy wording on some of the approaches for the Proposed Plan

Inverness City Vision - Free Event being held at the Ironworks, have your say on the future of Inverness!

2010-06-16T11:06:00.002+01:00

Inverness Today and Tomorrow
Ironworks - Monday 21st June
7 for 7:30pm – 9pm

The Highland Council have been working with Architecture and Design Scotland to create a new City Vision for Inverness. After the success of the City Vision Workshop Events held in January we are delighted to announce a follow up event which shall take place on Monday 21st June at the Ironworks from 7pm till 9:30pm.

We hope the event will help us to create a vision rooted in the ideas, aspirations and real life experiences of local people creating an Inverness that everyone is proud of. The event is open to everyone and no background knowledge of the previous work is needed.

Tickets are free and are available from the Ironworks Box Office (0871 7894173) and by contacting Lynn Bell 01463 702262.

For more information please contact –

Lynn Bell
Planning & Development Service
The Highland Council Glenurquhart Road Inverness IV3 5NX

Tel : 01463 702262

North of Scotland Public Health Network

2010-05-28T11:04:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday afternoon (26th May 2010), Simon attended a North of Scotland Public Health Network event and ran a workshop on the importance of planning for infrastructure requirements in the longer term. The workshop discussed the importance of getting involved at the early stages of the planning process, how development at different scales can have different infrastructure requirements and it was rounded up by a group discussion around how health provision can be planned and provided in new developments and the potential difficulties there may be.

The workshop was attended by a range of health professions not just from the Highland area but also from the Grampian, Tayside and Argyll areas.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee - 26/05/2010

2010-05-26T07:30:00.003+01:00

The Planning, Environment and Development Committee took place on the 26th May 2010.

Read the agenda and background papers here.

Watch the archived webcast to see the debate and decisions by clicking here.

Pre-Application Advice Service

2010-05-21T16:53:00.005+01:00

We have previously posted information on the Pre-Application Advice Service, that the Council offers to developers or their agents who are proposing a major development anywhere in The Highland Council area.

This service gives developers the opportunity to talk through the initial idea for a new development with all services within the Council and with representatives of some of the important national agencies such as Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage and Transport Scotland. By doing this developers and their agents can be guided at an early stage to any requirements that there maybe for their development and get advice on how they could consult the community. This is also a good opportunity for developers to find out about the reqirements of the still relatively new ways in which we have to deal with Major Developments and the requirements that this puts on developers before they submit any planning application. You can find out more about the Pre-Application Advice Service on our website.

Today, Simon and Richard attended the Homes for Scotland Annual Awards Ceremony, in Edinburgh. We are please to announce that the Pre-Application Advice Service was short-listed and won a Homes for Scotland Award in the Key Agencies Working category. The Highland Council were the only Scottish Local Authority short-listed. To find out more about the awards please click here and to view the judges report please click here.

Homes for Scotland represents the country’s private home building industry - an industry which, prior to the onset of the credit crunch, was the largest source of private investment in the Scottish economy, contributing around £6bn and directly impacting the employment of 100,000 people in 2006. To find out more about Homes for Scotland please click here.

Below is a Press Release issued by The Highland Council on Monday 24th May 2010 regarding the award. You can view the press release on the Council's Website by clicking here.

Highland Council Advice Service Wins Top Scottish Award (24/05/10)
A value added service offered by The Highland Council in partnership with a number of other national agencies including Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Transport Scotland has received national recognition at the Homes for Scotland Awards 2010.

The Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments, a cross Council service led by the Planning and Development Service, received an award in the Key Agency Working category. Organisers of the Awards said that the aim was to demonstrate the further evolution of the development industry’s commitment to improvement across the board, and to send out a message that the industry is determined to embrace the many challenges which lie ahead in overcoming the difficulties of the past two years. The Highland Council were the only Scottish Local Authority to be short listed.

The Pre-Application Advice Service helps to make the planning process more efficient by encouraging early and effective consultation which will assist in avoiding some of the difficult situations that may arise during the application process. The service offers advice on a range of issues including transport arrangements, design, sustainability and community engagement.
Central to the provision of the Pre-Application Advice Service is the partnership approach and commitment which helps the Council and its partners to deliver pre-application advice in a consistant and transparent manner to all developers helping to demonstrate the Council’s commitment to facilitating growth in the local economy.

The Council was presented with their award at the Homes for Scotland Annual Lunch, held in Edinburgh on Friday 21st May 2010.

Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Planning Environment and Development Committee, added: “We are delighted to have received this prestigious award which reflects the strong and constructive working relationship between the council and its partners since the inception of this service in February 2009. The Pre-Application Advice Service offers a great opportunity for the Council and the development industry to work closely together to help deliver better quality new developments and stengthen our communities.”

Planning, Environment and Development Committee 26th May 2010

2010-05-21T16:50:00.000+01:00

The Agenda for the next meeting of The Highland Council's Planning, Environment and Development Committee is now available online, you can view it by clicking here.

There are some very important reports going before this committee including:

Highland wide Local Development Plan
This report outlines the content of the draft vision and spatial strategy which will form the core content of the Highland wide Local Development Plan Proposed (draft) Plan when it is brought forward for approval to the August 2010 meeting of the PED Committee. It draws particular attention to the areas of major change in the Highlands.

Managing Waste in New Developments: Supplementary Guidance
This report provides an outline of Supplementary Guidance which has been drafted to ensure waste management infrastructure is pro-actively built into all new developments in the Highlands. It outlines the context and objectives of the guidance and provides details of the developer requirements that are proposed.

Wind Energy: Supplementary Guidance
The Council has a Renewable Energy Strategy but parts need updating and new guidance on wind energy is being prepared, to supplement the new Highland wide Local Development Plan. It will identify areas to be afforded significant protection from windfarms, other areas where there are particular constraints, broad areas of search for windfarms and set out criteria for the consideration of proposals in all areas. This report outlines the task, progress and ongoing work and seeks comment on some key points to help guide the work.

Coastal Development Strategy
The draft Highland Coastal Development Strategy has been revised in the light of public consultation which took place last year. It has also been revised to take account of the recent changes to national planning policy guidance.
All of the above reports are very important in preparing new planning policy in The Highland Council area. You will be able to view a webcast of the committee meeting on the Council website by clicking here from 10:30am on 26th May 2010 and a few days after the Committee the webcast will be archived and available to view at the same link.
If you have questions about any of the above reports please send us an e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk or call us on (01463) 702261.

Moving the Development Plan Forward - Press Release

2010-05-20T16:22:00.002+01:00

Below is a press release issued today by The Highland Council regarding the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

Moving the Development Plan Forward (20/05/10)

The Planning Environment and Development Committee of Highland Council will consider a report setting out the latest thinking on the vision and spatial strategy of the Highland wide Local Development Plan. This latest stage in the plan’s preparation has been reached following an extensive public consultation held between August and November 2009. Nearly 350 responses were received covering issues affecting the length and breadth of the Council area.

The report – a draft vision and spatial strategy - highlights the most significant development areas across Highland, and indicates how their development can contribute to the Council’s overall vision for the Highlands for the next twenty years. Developments such as the proposed new village at Kilbeg in Skye and the potential developments which will stem from the marine renewables potential in the Pentland Firth and elsewhere are critical to the long term vision for the Highlands.

The draft vision and spatial strategy sets out the most up to date thinking on Inverness City and the A96 Corridor between Inverness and Nairn where there continues to be significant development interest.

The Committee Chairman Councillor Ian Ross said: “We have taken on board the comments that many people have made as part of our Main Issues Report consultation and are seeking to balance the requirement to increase the supply of land for housing, business and commerce against the need to ensure well planned developments have effective infrastructure such as roads, education and open spaces. We have reviewed the pace of growth in the A96 Corridor, with much more emphasis now being placed on the continued growth of the city itself in the early years of this plan. That said, Members are also being asked to support the need to ensure that the long term development picture is catered for, and this includes Tornagrain new town as part of our long term strategy.”

Around Nairn, which has been the focus of a lot of development attention in recent years, the paper also indicates that the longer term development sites as set out in the A96 Corridor Framework are not to be brought forward at this stage, with a more organic and proportionate growth of the town being the most suitable solution to provide for housing needs over the next twenty years. This reflects many of the comments made from Nairn residents to the consultation and at the public meetings. The Nairn bypass remains a key priority and as such talks will continue with Transport Scotland.

Following consideration of this report, a full Proposed Plan (draft plan) will be presented to the August 2101 Committee, with a further public consultation taking place thereafter.

You can view the press release on the Council website by clicking here.

Green Networks in Highland

2010-05-20T08:13:00.002+01:00

Yesterday (19th May 2010), Simon, Katie, Julie-Ann, Lynn and Gillian held a joint agency workshop with Scottish Natural Heritage, NHS Highland, Forestry Commission Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and some local development agents to look at the concept of Green Networks in a Highland Context.

The idea of green networks is about making green spaces and places connect and bringing the the green spaces of the countryside right into our more built up areas. Open spaces can offer great benefits in terms of health, wellbeing, social, environmental and economic. The can be a key component of true sustainable development. A green network is built around three key areas:

Protection and enhancement of existing places;
Biodiversity and environment; and
Recreation and leisure.

We held this workshop to get some scope on what could be in a piece of Supplementary Guidance detailing the benefits of green networks, how they could be delivered on the ground, and what makes up a green network.

The day was very beneficial to all involved and over the coming months we will be looking at the findings of the day along with how we could maybe map green networks. We hope to prepare a draft version of the Supplementary Guidance to be presented to the Planning, Environment and Development Committee in August. Following this we will be holding a public consultation on the draft guidance.

If you have any questions about green networks please leave a comment, e-mail us devplans@highland.gov.uk or call (01463) 702261.

Meeting with Scottish Natural Heritage - 20th April 2010

2010-04-23T11:31:00.004+01:00

On Tuesday 20th April 2010, David, Katie and Julie-Anne met with Scottish Natural Heritage to discuss some very important issues for the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

To start the day, Hugh MackIntosh from the Crofters Commission joined us to discuss the ideas for crofting policies (which had been developed through joint working between the Council, Crofters Commission, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise). On this issue Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH’s) primary focus is to ensure an appropriate pattern and character of development within crofting communities. The role of new siting and design guidance for the Housing in the Countryside guidance was mentioned and how it can play its part. It was also explained that one of the ideas, and a new practice to be trialled shortly, whereby site assessment of crofting impact informs us at the planning application stage should help. However to assist in communicating this to applicants in advance of submitting their application, it is also intended that specific siting guidance for crofting communities would be produced that would explain the policy further and using visual elements. SNH considered part of the preliminary landscape capacity work done for the Sutherland Local Plan could help inform this work.

Following this there was much discussion around Wild land and Remote Landscapes of Value for Recreation. This provoked informative discussion on the different ways we could classify and name the feature within the Highland wide Local Development Plan. There was debate about how we could get best use out of work already done, along with how to align with the newly identified isolated coast from the Coastal Development Strategy. The respective merits of using existing mapping, or using a criteria approach, as a potential triggers to ask for developer Impact Assessments was debated. However subject to the resource being available, SNH suggested that a new mapping exercise similar to that carried out by the Cairngorm National Park Authorities work would be their preferred approach.

SNH and the Council recently commissioned a consultant Horner and MacLennan to identify the key characteristics, special qualities, sensitivities, and potential for landscape enhancements - within our Special Landscape Areas (SLA). SLA’s are local/regionally important areas of special landscape quality. This work has been finished and the concept was put forward for input from SNH who broadly agreed with the approach.

An approach to coastal development and a specific criteria policy for aquaculture were then discussed. It was agreed a reference to the new Marine Act and future integration with the new regional marine plans (which are likely to be started around 2013-2014) would be added. It was discussed how to ensure appropriate management of activities, taking into consideration not just existing uses but also potential uses. It was agreed that we would contact planners working for Shetland Isles Council as they have recently developed their policy on aquaculture.

The national, built and cultural heritage was then discussed with representatives from SNH and at this point we were also joined by Historic Scotland. There was discussion over the importance of the framework which will accompany any policy on this topic. We also discussed comments that we had received from the Main Issues Report on species, habitats and geodiversity. We will be having further discussions with SNH and Historic Scotland as we work towards draft policies.

Finally, we discussed renewable energy. We discussed what could be covered by general policies in the Highland wide Local Development Plan and what could be included in Supplementary Guidance, particularly for onshore wind energy. Policies need to be useful for dealing with an increasing range of renewable technologies, as well as addressing such matters as community schemes and the electricity grid. Our ongoing work will produce guidance on the cumulative impact of wind farms on the landscape, but we also discussed other cumulative issues such as impact on bird populations and whether this might be able to be built in to our map-based approach.

All in all it was a very productive meeting and it has helped us move forward some of our approaches taking on board comments from all of those present at the meeting and all of the other comments we received through the Main Issues Report consultation last year.

Inverness City Committee

2010-04-15T11:21:00.002+01:00

A meeting of Inverness City Committee will take place in the Council Chamber, Town House, Inverness on Monday 19 April 2010 at 10.00am.

There will be two reports which are linked to development planning in Highland. These reports are:

You can view other items on the agenda by clicking here.

If you have any questions about these two reports please e-mail us - devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Supplementary Guidance

2010-04-01T10:45:00.002+01:00

Supplementary Guidance is detailed guidance on certain topics. We have produced a number of pieces of supplementary guidance already and we have a timescale of when we will produce other important pieces of guidance in our Development Plan Scheme.

Scottish Ministers intend that much of the detail which might formally have been in the local plan can now be in supplmentary guidance. This will allow the Local Development Plan to be focused on the vision, spatial strategy and key policies and proposals. Supplementary guidance can contain:

Detailed policies where the main principles are already established;
allocations of small areas of land that do not affect the spatial strategy of the area;
development briefs or masterplans;
levels of developer contributions or methologies for their calculation;
Forestry and woodland strategies; or
Aquaculture framework documents.

There are also some things which should only be included in the Local Development Plan and not in supplementary guidance:

departures from national planning policy;
development proposals of more than local impact;
green belt boundaries; and
items for which financial or other contributions, will be sought. This also includes the circumstances for when they will be sought and for where they might be sought.

Supplementary Guidance can either be a "statutory" part of the development plan or can be "non-statutory". If it is statutory it has more weight in decision making. There are some criteria we have to meet for supplementary guidance to be statutory. These are set out in the Planning Etc (Scotland) Act 2006 and are given more detail in the Town and Country Planning (Development Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2008. We have provided a sumary below:

Supplementary Guidance can only:

cover topics specifically identified in the Local Development Plan; and
provide further information or detail in respect of policies or proposals set out in the local development plan.

Before the we adopt supplementary guidance they must:

publicise the guidance;
make people who might want to comment aware of the guidance and give them opportunity to comment;
consider the comments made before submitting it to Scottish Ministers;
produce a document setting hout how the guidance was publicised, comments which have been made and how comments have been taken on board.

Once 28 days have passed since sending this information to Scottish Ministers, then the Council can adopt the supplementary guidance, unless Scottish Ministers have directed otherwise.

If you have any questions about Supplementary Guidance please contact the development plans team on 01463 702261 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Service Arrangements over the Easter Weekend

2010-03-31T13:54:00.004+01:00

The Council will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 1st April until 9am on Tuesday 6th April.

There will be no one in the Development Plans Team able to answer any queries between these times and the Blog will not be updated.

For details of how other Council Services may be contacted during this time please click here.

The Development Plans Team would like to wish all the readers of our blog an enjoyable Easter break.

Pre-Application Advice in Highland

2010-03-31T13:36:00.003+01:00

Pre-application discussions forms a very important part of the planning process. It allows developers to discuss their proposal with the Council before coming in with a planning application. This means that developers can be told what the issues may be with their proposal and how or if they can be sorted out.

Pre-application discussions really help make the planning system more effective and efficient. They can take place on any size of developments from the smallest house extension to a large scale development.

Pre-application discussions do not just involve planners, but also conservation, landscape, access, archaeology, and transportation officers to name but a few. It is also important to get national agencies involved in pre-application discussions to ensure that the bigger picture is being taken into account.

Part of the role of the Development Plans Team at Highland Council is to co-ordinate an efficient approach to pre-application discussions for major developments. Co-ordinated pre-application discussions on major developments is especially important as these proposals can often be very complicated and will need to be discussed with a wide range of specialists both at the Council and at outside agencies such as SEPA, SNH and Transport Scotland. To help us to achieve this more co-ordinated approach to pre-application advice, last year saw the launch of the Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments. You can read more about the service by clicking here.

The service offers a range of advice on issues with development proposals including, planning policy, transport, and how best to involve the community before applications are submitted.

If you have any questions about the Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments please contact us either by e-mailing devplans@highland.gov.uk or call us on (01463) 702261.

The Highland Development Plan Scheme 2010

2010-03-30T11:26:00.003+01:00

You can now view The Highland Development Plan Scheme 2010 online.

We are currently in the process of printing copies of the Development Plan Scheme to send out to libraries, service points, and post offices. We wil also be sending printed copies to each Community Council. We hope to have these sent out soon.

You can view The Highland Development Plan Scheme 2010 by clicking here.

If you have any questions or comments on the Development Plan Scheme 2010, please contact us either at devplans@highland.gov.uk or telephone us (01463) 702261.

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Development Plans

2010-03-22T11:57:00.003Z

In previous posts we have talked about Strategic Environmental Assessment and how we are required to carry them out and take into consideration their findings.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment is an assessment of the environmental effects that any plan, programme or strategy might have. All of our Local Development Plans require Strategic Environmental Assessment.

We develop our Strategic Environmental Assessments with the help of Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Historic Scotland, together these organisations are known as the Consultation Authorities.

Last Friday (19th March 2010) the Scottish Government released new guidance on how Development Plans should be assessed. You can view the guidance by clicking here.

If you have any questions about Strategic Environmental Assessment please leave a comment on this post and we will get back to you or call the Development Plans team on (01463) 702261.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee - Update

2010-03-17T15:38:00.005Z

Today (17th March 2010), two reports related to development planning in Highland were considered by the Planning Environment and Development Committee.

Reccomendations of reports on "The Development Plan Scheme 2010" and the "Sutherland Local Plan" were agreedby members of the Committee. Later today/early tomorrow, you will be able to view the archieved webcast and skip to the relvant items (12 and 13) by clicking on the following link http://www.highland.public-i.tv/site/webcasts.php.

The next step for the Development Plans Scheme 2010 is for it to be submitted to the Plain English Campaign to ensure it written in a clear and consise way. We will then be submitting it to Scottish Government before the end of March.

At the same time as submitting it to the Scottish Government, we will send out a letter/e-mail to all those on our consultation database letting you know how you can get a copy of the Development Plan Scheme. All Community Councils will receive a printed copy and printed copies will be available to view in all Council Offices, Libraries, Service Points and Post Offices. The Development Plan Scheme will also be available online.

If you would like to be added to our consultation database please contact us on (01463) 702259 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

We will be making a blog post soon on the next steps for the Sutherland Local Plan.

Planning, Environment and Development Committee - March 17th 2010

2010-03-12T10:30:00.004Z

The Agenda for the next meeting of the Planning, Environment and Development Committee which will take place on the 17th March 2010 at 10:30 is now available online.

You can view the agenda by clicking here.

Two important reports by the development plans team are to be considered by the committee:

Development Plan Scheme 2010 (Item 12, paper available here - including draft of Development Plans Scheme 2010 and a Topic by Topic Summary of Responses to the Highland wide Local Development Plan Main Issues Report); and

Sutherland Local Plan (Item 13, paper available here.)

You can view the webcast from 10:30 on 17th March 2010 by visiting the following link http://www.highland.public-i.tv/site/.

We have made a "word cloud" of the most common words from the Main Issues Report Topic by Topic Summary which is an attachment to the Development Plan Scheme 2010 Committee Report, the bigger the word the more it was mentioned.

West Highlands and Islands Local Plan

2010-03-12T08:49:00.003Z

The ‘Report of Examination’ from The Scottish Government’s Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals has been published.

You can view it by clicking here or view the press release here.

Keep an eye out for the Development Plan Scheme 2010 which will let everyone know when we aim to adopt the plan.

Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning 2009

2010-03-11T19:10:00.006Z

Simon and Lynn were today (11th March 2010), accompanied by Director of Planning, Stuart Black, Head of Planning and Building Standards, Richard Hartland and Chairman of the Planning, Environment and Development committee, Cllr Ian ross to the 13th Annual Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning.

We are delighted to announce The Highland Council in partnership with Kit Campbell Associates won an award for Outstanding Performance and Quality in Development Planning for the Open Space in New Residential: Interim Supplementary Guidance. Read what the judges of the awards thought about the guidance here in the Judges Report and read the Scottish Government's Press Release about the awards here.

View photos from the event in Edinburgh below and you can view our press release here.

Our blog is changing

2010-03-10T13:51:00.003Z

Over the next few weeks you may notice some changes to our blog.

Over the next year we will be starting production of the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan and we will continue work on other important planning documents such as guidance on design and siting of housing in the countryside and the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

We want to keep you as up to date as possible therefore we will be providing you with information on all pieces of work being carried out by the development plans team via this blog. To reflect this the name of our blog will change slightly but the web address will stay the same.

You may also notice some additional pages with background information to the work we do along the top of this page. So far we have pages on "What is Planning?" and a "Glossary of Planning Terms". We will soon also publish a page which will contain the most up to date information on the timescales for the production of our work.

If there is any other information you would like to see on these pages, or any other changes to our blog that you would like to see, let us know by leaving a comment on this blog post or send an e-mail to devplans@highland.gov.uk.

View Responses to the Main Issues Report Online

2010-03-10T11:47:00.002Z

In December 2009 we made responses to the Main Issues Report for the Highland wide Local Development Plan from the Key Agencies available on our website.

As of today you can now view all responses to the Main Issues Report online by clicking here.

Each response has a cover sheet with a brief summary of the response and gives an idea of the topics covered in the response. These summaries are not intended to be a full summary but pull out some of the key themes emerging from the response.

If you have any views on the content of the responses please let us know, any comments would be appreciated.

Keep an eye out for a future blog post on the agenda for the Planning, Environment and Development Committee on 17th March 2010.

A Housing Strategy for Highland

2010-03-09T08:30:00.003Z

Today, an important document for housing in Highland will be presented to the Housing and Social Work Committee. The Highland Housing Strategy 2010-2015 is an important document which links in with the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

The Highland Housing Strategy looks to have six over arching otucomes:

People are able to live in suitable, and affordable, housing through increased supply in the best places and improved access routes to a wide range of housing choices.
Owners and renters are able to live in suitable, energy-efficient houses which are in good condition and, for renters, are well managed.
Fewer households living in fuel poverty.
More people with community care needs successfully living at home independently.
Fewer households experience homelessness through increased prevention and the delivery of responsive, effective services which bring about better outcomes.
We have strong and supportive communities which have a long term future; where people feel safe; where the impact of disadvantage is reduced and where public services are delivered well and provide value for money.

The Committee Report, which outlines the draft Local Housing Strategy can be viewed by clicking here.

What development or planning issues matter to you?

2010-03-04T08:23:00.002Z

We have a new poll on our blog.

We would like you to let us know "What development or planning issues matter to you?"

Following your feedback on last years Development Plan Scheme, we found out that Housing was one of the most important issues to you and so that became one of our focuses for the Main Issues Report for the Highland wide Local Development Plan. It is also one of the topics on which we have recieved the most responses during the consultation on the Main Issues Report.

Please take a minute to fill in the poll on the right hand side of the page. If there are any development or planning issues we have not mentioned which matter to you, leave a comment on this post or send us an e-mail to devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Water Infrastructure and the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-03-04T08:08:00.002Z

On 16th February, Malcolm and Neil met with a representative of Scottish Water to discuss their response to the Main Issues Report (you can view it by clicking here). Scottish Water is a publicly owned company, providing water and sewerage services to households across Scotland.

We discussed the important linkages between Scottish Water’s forthcoming update to their Quality & Standards investment programme and the new Highland wide Local Development Plan, as well as updates on their water supply model and progress with on-going improvements to their existing infrastructure. One of the aims of planning reform is to co-ordinate infrastructre programmes and proposed new development and in recent times this has been acheived through good partnership working with Scottish Water on large scale developments in Highland.

The meeting was very positive, and we agreed to continue to work closely with Scottish Water to take forward a coordinated approach to the provision of water & sewerage infrastructure into the Proposed Highland wide Local Development Plan, taking into consideration all of the comments on these issues from the Main Issues Report Consultation process. You can view more information on Scottish Water on their website: http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/

Regional Transport and the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-03-04T08:06:00.003Z

On 3rd February 2010, Malcolm and Neil met with representatives of HITRANS to discuss their response to the Main Issues Report (you can view it by clicking here). HITRANS is the Regional Transport Partnership for the Highlands and Islands, and is tasked with pursuing improvements to the strategic transport services and infrastructure network. Its remit covers all forms of public transport in the Highlands and Islands including ferry, road transport, rail, air travel, cycling and walking.

We discussed the important linkages between HITRANS’ Regional Transport Strategy, the Highland Council’s Local Transport Strategy and the new Highland wide Local Development Plan, as well as further exploring HITRANS’ views on Carbon Reduction, Active Travel Provision, Park ‘n’ Ride schemes and rail infrastructure improvements within the Highland area. We also looked at how the Active Travel Plan projects that HITRANS are undertaking could be used to help inform the next stage of the plan.

The meeting was very positive, and we agreed to work closely with HITRANS to take forward a coordinated approach to transportation and accessibility into the Proposed Highland wide Local Development Plan, taking into consideration all of the comments on these issues from the Main Issues Report Consultation process. You can view more information on HITRANS on their website: http://www.hitrans.org.uk/.

Crofting and the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-03-03T15:54:00.006Z

On the 8th of February, Katie and Dafydd met with representatives from the Crofters Commission (CC) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to discuss joint working on crofting/planning issues. The HIE and CC's respsonses to the MIR can be accessed here.

At the meeting it was recognised that there is a need for planners to have a better understanding of crofting issues and exhibit greater consistency when dealing with crofting issues, and that there is also a need to set up a supportive policy framework to consider new crofting proposals.

The HwLDP offers us all the opportunity to set out consistent policies on crofting. As well as improvement in planning policy from The Highland Council (THC) there is a need to better synchronise CC and THC procedures at the planning application stage. Earlier and improved engagement will help avoid double handling and will be more cost effective and improve the effectiveness of service delivery by all agencies to the public.

HIE also informed us all of the role of the Crofting Townships Plans which will be produced by some communities. The planners also discussed how this can positively help inform the future Area Local Development Plans.

There will be regular meetings of this group during the production of the Highland wide Local development Plan so we can together develop and enhance our joint working and policies. It is recognised that at later meetings we will require input from Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Woodland Crofts officer from HIE.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-02-24T09:20:00.003Z

Yesterday morning (23rd February 2010), Malcolm, Tim, Simon and Gillian met with representatives of Highlands and Islands Enterprise to discuss their response to the Main Issues Report and how we can move forward taking on board the comments they made. Their main response can be viewed by clicking here, they also made responses on specific topics they can be viewed by clicking here.

We discussed the need for business and industrial land to be carefully planned over the coming years to ensure we can support business growth in the Highlands and the role of renewable energy in the Highland economy.

We will be working closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise in progressing to the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan on issues around business, industry and economic growth. They will also soon become one of our partners in delivering the Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments when proposals for new businesses are being brought forward. You can view further information about the Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments by clicking here.

More information on Highlands and Islands Enterprise can be found by visiting their website http://www.hie.co.uk/.

Joint Key Agencies Meeting on Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-02-19T15:22:00.003Z

This morning Malcolm and Simon were accompanied by the Head of Planning and Building Standards (Richard Hartland) and the Director of Planning and Development (Stuart Black) to a meeting between the following Key Agencies:

Crofters Commission
Historic Scotland
Scottish Water
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
NHS Highland
Scottish Government

The meeting was chaired by Jim Mackinnon, Chief Planner at the Scottish Government, almost a year to the day since the launch of the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan. We discussed the key agency involvement in the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan to date and the need for continued partnership working to deliver planning reform in production of the proposed plan.

The meeting was very positive and over the coming months we will be working closely with the Key Agencies to move forward the Highland wide Local Development Plan taking into consideration the need to prepare detailed supplementary guidance on certain topics and, in the longer term, producing an action programme for the plan which will set out clearly how the plan objectives can be delivered.

Historic Environment in Highland

2010-02-18T19:38:00.003Z

The Highland Council area has lots of areas of historic importance, Listed Buildings, Battlefields, Conservation Areas, and areas of archaeological interest to name but a few. We need to be planning for the protection and, where possible, the enhancement of out built and cultural heritage.

This afternoon David and Simon met with Historic Scotland to discuss the Historic Environment in Highland and some of the issues which were raised in their response to the Main Issues Report (Part of the response from the Scottish Government, you can view it by clicking here).

We discussed the implications of the recently published Scottish Planning Policy and Scottish Historic Environment Policy, you can view an introduction to Scottish Historic Environment Policy by clicking here.

We had a positive meeting and we will be working closely with Historic Scotland to take forward an approach to built and cultural heritage into the Proposed Highland wide Local Development Plan, taking into consideration all of the comments on this issue from the Main Issues Report Consultation.

NHS Highland and the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-02-17T15:55:00.002Z

This afternoon Simon and Brian met with NHS Highland to discuss how we can work in partnership on a number of issues including working toward a Healthier Highland and policies on planning for an ageing population.

We discussed the need for our policies to tie in with some of the joint strategies produced by the Council and the NHS including All to Play For: The Highland Play Strategy, Highland Physical activity and Sport Strategy and Highland Healthy Weight Strategy (information available by clicking here).

In working toward development of policies on planning for an ageing population we will continue to work with NHS Highland and other services of the Council to develop our approach.

You can view more information on NHS Highland on their website @ http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/.

Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Local Development Plans for Highland

2010-02-10T15:23:00.005Z

All Plans, Policies or Strategies of the Council need to be considered for Strategic Environmental Assessment.

This consideration may lead to the decision that a Strategic Environmental Assessment is not required due to there being little impact on the environment, or it may mean that a full assessment is required.

So what is a Strategic Environmental Assessment?
The Strategic Environmental Assessment looks at the environmental affect that plans, policies and strategies might have. In their preperation we need to follow certain processes set out in the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and take on board views from the consultation Authorities. These are:

· Historic Scotland;
· Scottish Environment Protection Agency;
· Scottish Natural Heritage.

There is a useful breakdown of what a Strategic Environmental Assessment is and how they need to be carried out. It has been produced by the Scottish Government and is called "A Basic Introduction to Strategic Environmental Assessment". It is available by clicking here.

What does a Strategic Environmental Assessment assess?
Below is a list of different aspects of the environment that a Strategic Environmental Assessment can the impact on the certain aspects of the environment. These are set out in the list below:

Biodiversity;
flora;
fauna;
population;
human health;
soil;
water;
air;
climatic factors;
material assets;
cultural heritage (including architectural and archaeological heritage);
landscape;
relationship between these issues; and
secondary and cumulative effects.

Not all of these topics need to be assessed in all cases but when we are doing Strategic Environmental Assessments on out Local Development Plans we need to cover all the topics.

There is no set way to assess each of these topics but it always needs to be done in a way which is agreed with the Consultation Authorities. Also these topics can't be looked at in isolation, they need to be considered in terms of the cumulative impact that they may have.

What does it mean for Local Development Plans in Highland?
Under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Planning Etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 every Local Development Plan must be accompanied by a Strategic Environmental Assessment. There is no need to carry out the initial stage of the assessment known as "Screening" as it is recognised that every Local Development Plan will have both positive and negative impacts, therefore all Local Development Plans start the process at the "Scoping" stage.

At the Scoping stage the Council need to set out certain information on the impact that the Local Development Plan might have on the environment and ask the consultation authorities opinion on whether they think we have covered it all and whether they would like us to modify our methodology in any way.

We have already done alot of work on the Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Highland wide Local Development Plan and we have had comments back on the "Environmental Report" from the Consultation Authorities and some members of the public. You can view the Environmental Report and its associated appendicies (which contain the assessments) by clicking here and scrolling down the page to the title Strategic Environmental Assessment. The report itself contains a non-technical summary which sets out the key findings of the report and the work we carried out.

Soon we will be starting work on the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan and we will also be completing a Strategic Environmental Assessment for this plan. We are currently working on the "Scoping" stage and we will be submitting this to the Consultation Authorities soon.

If you have any questions on Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Local Development Plans for Highland leave a comment on this blog post or call the development plans team on (01463) 702261.

Green Networks with SNH

2010-02-09T16:35:00.003Z

Julie-Anne, Simon and Peter met with SNH this afternoon to discuss a project which is being used to inform the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

The project involves mapping green networks in the A96 Corridor between Inverness and Nairn.

The definition of green networks we have been working with is below;

"A green network comprises the network of greenspaces within and around our towns and city, linking out tot he wider countryside, which under pins the areas's quality of life and sense of place and provides the setting within which high quality, sustainable growth can occur . It is made up on interconnected networks of:

Woodlands;
other natural and semi-natural habitats;
watercourses, wetlands and other blue spaces;
formal and informal greenspace in and around urban areas; and
footpaths and cycle routes."

The project is working to help us to protect and enhance components of green networks where they already exist in the A96 corridor and also to avoid spliting up these existing networks and improve their connectivity, wherever possible.

The meeting we had today was very useful and considered how we could bring forward a policy on green networks in the Highland wide Local Development Plan and build upon the approach we set out in the Main Issues Report as part of the approach to Open Space and Physical Activity.

Following the meeting we agreed that further work needs to be carried out with SNH to refine the mapping and make them workable so they can be used in assessing planning applications. We will be meeting SNH again shortley to discuss how progress on this and how it may be built into the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan.

We will post any information on further meetings we have on this topic as and when we have them.

Scottish Natural Heritage - 8th February 2010

2010-02-08T22:00:00.003Z

David, Julie-Anne and Simon met with Scottish Natural Heritage this morning to discuss their response to the main issues report and how we can move forward to the creation of policies within the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan which will be published later on this year.

As part of the meeting we discussed progress on the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan, and we discussed the need to take into consideration the recently published Scottish Planning Policy.

We had initial discussion on a number of topics which were raised as part of the response SNH made on the Main Issues Report including:

Natural, Built and Cultural Heritage;
Biodiversity;
Crofting and Agriculture;
Minerals;
Geodiversity;
Areas of Great Landscape Value;
Renewable Energy; and
Access to the Outdoors.

We have a number of actions from today's meeting including having more detailed meetings with specialists from both SNH and the Council on a number of the issues mentioned above. One of the most important topics is how we can address Natural, Built and Cultural Heritage to ensure we can safeguard and where possible enhance our environment.

An issue that we will need to explore jointly between SNH, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Crofters Commission is the approach to crofting and agriculture. This is a very important issue in Highland and we will post further information on this soon. Our proposed plan needs to have comprehensive policies on the issue which meet the needs of the crofting community.

The additional liaison meetings we will have with SNH as well as the other responses we have had on the Main Issues Report to these topics will help inform the policies which will be contained within the proposed plan.

We will post information on any further meetings on the blog as and when they happen.

You can view SNH's response to the Main Issues Report by clicking here.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency - 5th February 2009

2010-02-05T13:56:00.003Z

David, Katie, Simon and Tim met with Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) this morning to discuss their response to the main issues report and how we can move forward to the creation of policies within the Highland wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan which will be published later on this year.

As part of the meeting we discussed progress on the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan, and we discussed the need to take into consideration the recently published Scottish Planning Policy as well as SEPA's own guidance what they would like to see in Development Plans (available by clicking here).

We had initial discussion on a number of topics which were raised as part of the response SEPA made on the Main Issues Report including:

Connections to public sewerage systems;
Water Environment;
Waste Management;
Flooding;
Air Quality; and
Coastal Development.

We have a number of actions from today's meeting including having more detailed meetings with specialists from both SEPA and the Council on a number of the issues mentioned above. These meetings as well as the other responses we have had on the Main Issues Report to these topics will help inform the policies which will be contained within the proposed plan.

We will post information on any further meetings on the blog as and when they happen.

Marine Spatial Planning

2010-02-04T21:18:00.002Z

The Scottish Parliament today backed the Marine (Scotland) Bill. You can view a press release and view the Bill in its current form by clicking here.

With Highland having such a large amount of Scotland's coastline Marine Spatial Planning is something that needs to be very carefully considered.

We raised the issue of Coastal Development in the Main Issues Report for the Highland wide Local Development Plan and our preferred option was:

􀁸 provide a clear link between the Local Development Plan and the Coastal

Development Strategy to ensure that the right development can take place in

coastal areas;

􀁸 put in place a general policy covering this topic to ensure appropriate

development is not hindered where it will not have an impact on any specific

designation or the character of the area; and

􀁸 put in place a general policy on fish farming and other aquaculture activities to

ensure there is an appropriate and consistent framework for assessing

planning applications that can be applied Highland wide. This could be done

by preparing supplementary guidance.

We have had much feedback on this approach and the alternative that we set out. We are currently assessing all of the responses on this and are working closely with our colleagues in the Coastal Planning Team to progress them. This also includes taking into consideration comments sent in during the consultation on the draft Coastal Development Strategy.

The draft of the Coastal Development Strategy can be viewed here.

Important Publications from the Scottish Government

2010-02-04T21:10:00.003Z

Today (4th February 2010), The Scottish Government have published two very important Planning documents.

The first being Scottish Planning Policy which consolidates all of the national planning policy into a more simple and accessible document.

The second is Circular 1/2010 on Planning Agreements. This sets out guidance on the criteria and processes when developers are required to make a contribution to the provision of local infrastructure, where a development would create additional infrastructure demands.

Both documents and a press release on these documents can be viewed by clicking here.

Both these documents will be taken into consideration in preparation of the Highland wide Local Development Plan, the area Local Development Plans and also in decisions on planning applications.

Key Agencies and the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2010-01-29T11:45:00.004Z

Over the next few weeks we will be meeting with each of the Key Agencies to discuss their responses to the Main Issues Report and how we would like to continue to work in partnership with them on the production of the proposed plan.

The Key Agencies are set out in the Development Planning Regulations. In Highland the relevant Key Agencies are:

Scottish Government and their agencies (Transport Scotland and Historic Scotland);
HiTrans;
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH);
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA);
Highlands and Islands Enterprise;
The Crofters Commission;
Scottish Water; and
NHS Highland.

We will be speaking to each of the Key Agencies in turn and we will also be having a joint meeting with all of the Key Agencies present to discuss our timescales for production of the proposed plan. We will then report our progress on the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan and a summary of the main issues arising from the consultation on the main issues report at Planning, Environment and Development Committee on March 17th 2010. This will include information on the Development Plan Scheme 2010.

Like with meetings prior to the production of the Main Issues Report, we will provide a summary of the meetings we hold with the Key Agencies on this blog.

Sutherland Local Plan - Report of Examination

2010-01-29T11:40:00.002Z

People with an interest in The Highland Council’s Sutherland Local Plan can now see a copy of the ‘Report of Examination’ from The Scottish Government’s Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals on the Highland Council’s website.

Members of the Development Plans Team have summarised highlights from the Report of Examination and these can be viewed on the Council’s website at www.highland.gov.uk/sutherlandlocalplan

The Report of Examination will be considered by the Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee on 17 March 2010. The circumstances in which the Local Planning Authority can decline to follow the recommendations of the Reporter are set out in regulations. Generally, however, the recommendations are binding upon the Council and the Plan will be modified in accordance with them. Once modified, the Plan will progress through formal steps and is likely to become the adopted Local Plan in summer 2010. The report to Committee will outline these steps including arrangements for making the modified Plan available, keeping interested parties informed and ultimately publishing the adopted Plan.

Commenting on the Report of Examination, Chairman of the Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee Councillor Ian Ross said: “A great many of the recommendations in the Report, including recommendations for changes to the Plan, are wholly or largely in line with the Council’s position at examination and I welcome those. The Plan may be regarded as generally improved as a result of representations received and the Council’s consideration of them and the subsequent independent examination. The policies will provide an effective framework for guiding investment and managing development across Sutherland. They will also usefully input to our thinking about the Highland wide Local Development Plan. Most of the sites that were proposed by the Council as development allocations in the Local Plan have in principle been confirmed, with some modifications where necessary to the detail of the plan proposals.”
On some issues the Reporters’ recommendations differ significantly from the Council’s position at Examination. In particular, there are a number of allocated sites which the Reporters have recommended be deleted including:

Embo H1 (North of Station Road) and Embo MU1 (West Embo);
Golspie H3 (Adjacent to Macleod House);
Ardgay H1 (North of Manse Road);
Invershin H1 (Former Balblair workings);
Lochinver H3 (Glencanisp);
Tongue MU1 (West of the Manse); and
various sites identified in the Plan as ‘long term’.

Councillor Ross said: “We are examining carefully the detail of what the Reporters have said about the sites, including long term sites which are to be deleted from the plan and fully considering the implications of these changes. There may be some sites where the issues of concern cannot be overcome. However there may be other sites where some limited development may be possible during the plan period or some sites which could be considered for inclusion in a future replacement Plan. The groundwork done examining site options for the Sutherland Local Plan together with the Report of Examination will assist in carrying out future Plan preparation. The key consideration is that we will have a sound Local Plan in place to guide Sutherland’s development over the next few years.”

Deletion of sites does not affect existing planning consents on sites, which can still be implemented, although depending upon what they are for they may be unlikely to be renewed.

You can read the press release in full by clicking here.

If you have any questions please contact the development plans team at devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Open Space in Highland

2010-01-22T15:41:00.002Z

In the Highland wide Local Development Plan we need to look at how we make best use of open space, protect existing open space and facilitate the creation of new open space.

In looking to develop a way forward, in 2009 we worked with Kit Campbell Associates to produce Interim Supplementary Guidance: Open Space in New Residential Developments. This guidance sets out standards for open spaces in new residential developments right across Highland. These standards are based on evidence from a greenspace audit (which we will be publishing in Spring 2010) and from national best practice, the standards set out:

how much open space there should be in new residential developments;
how it should be developed to ensure it is good quality; and
how it should be developed to ensure it is accessible to all.

We produced this guidance and will include policies on open space in the Highland wide Local Development Plan as we recognise how important open spaces are to communities for a number of reasons including, for interation with other people, health and more generally for the environment.

Our long term vision for all open space is

The creation of sustainable networks of high quality, accessible, fit for purpose greenspaces and sports facilities that support and enhance biodiversity and the quality of life for residents and visitors.

We held a public consultation on this guidance in January-March 2009 and the main issues report set out how we might approach open space and we had some very interesting feedback. We would like to know how you feel about the way in which we are approaching planning for open space in Highland. Please leave a comment on this post or send an e-mail to devplans@highland.gov.uk

You can view the Interim Supplementary Guidance: Open Space in New Residential Developments and a summary paper of the guidance by clicking here.

The guidance is also shortlisted for a Scottish Award for Quality in Planning you can view our award submission for our guidance and find out more about the awards by clicking here.

Inverness City Vision 2010

2010-01-22T15:39:00.003Z

Just to let the readers of our blog know work on the Inverness City Vision 2010, which we mentioned in our Main Issues Report fort he Highland wide Local Development Plan could be supplementary guidance, is continuing apace and over the past few days a number of workshops have taken place with the community. For more Information on the Inverness City Vision 2010 please visit our City Vision blog @ http://invernesscityvision2010.blogspot.com

Keep Us in the Picture 2009 - The Winners

2010-01-13T08:42:00.010Z

As all winners have now been informed and have recived their prizes we can now reveal the winners of Keep Us in the Picture 2009. For more information on Keep Us in the Picture please see an earlier blog post which you can get to by clicking here.

In total we had over 50 entries and these were judged by all members of the Highland Youth Voice at the Highland Youth Voice Conference on the weekend of 21st November 2009 at Badaguish Outdoor Centre near Aviemore. We have 7 winning photos each winning £50.

We will be running further events in the future to encourage young people to get involved in the development planning process. We would like to thank everyone who took part in the competition and the Highland Youth Voice for their assistance in promoting the competition and for taking on the difficult task of judging all of the high quality entries.

The Winners

What you like about Highland?

What do you not like about Highland?

What would make your community better?

What would be really fun to have in Highland?

Thanks again to everyone who entered keep an eye out for more opportunities to get involved in the planning system in the near future. All these pictures and winners of the previous Keep Us in the Picture Competition will be used in out upcoming Local Development Plans.

Development Plan Scheme 2010

2010-01-13T08:23:00.002Z

We are currently in the process of producing our Development Plan Scheme for 2010.

A Development Plan Scheme sets out how the Council will be preparing its new land use plans over the next year. We produce this document to make it easier for you to find out what stage in the plan making process we are at and how you can get involved.

The development plan scheme sets out our programme for preparing and reviewing the local development plans. In this document we will let you know how our planning is going and when we will be starting work on the area local development plans.

The scheme will include a timetable for producing the Highland-wide Local development Plan, and the preparatory work for the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan, what is involved in making local development plans and when you can expect to be involved - our participation statement.

We are exploring further different ways to encourage people to get involved in the development planning system we have some ideas and there is a poll on the right hand side of this page please let us know what you think. We already use some of these methods but we are exploring more and over the next few weeks we will continue to research other methods.

If you have any other ideas on how we can get people involved please leave a comment on this post or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Highland Council Service Arrangements over the festive Period

2009-12-22T16:05:00.001Z

Please see link below for Highland Council service arrangements over the festive period.

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/news/winterwatch/servicearrangements.htm

The Council will be closed from 4pm on 23rd December 2009 and re-open at 9am on 4th January 2009. During this time this blog will not be updated.

The Development Plans Team would like to wish all the readers of our blog an enjoyable festive season.

Following up Responses to the Main Issues Report - Update

2009-12-22T15:49:00.006Z

We have just placed the responses to the Main Issues Report from the following Key Agencies on our website:

Scottish Government (including Transport Scotland and Historic Scotland);
Scottish Natural Heritage;
Scottish Environment Protection Agency;
Crofters Commission;
Highlands and Islands Enterprise;
HITRANS; and
Scottish Water.

We will be placing all other responses to the Main Issues Report online early 2010. To view the responses from the Key Agencies please click here.

If you have any comments on the responses made by the key agencies please leave a comment or send an e-mail to devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Following up on Main Issues Report Responses

2009-12-11T11:26:00.003Z

The Development Plans Team are currently going over all of the responses to the main issues report. When we are doing this we are summarising and pulling out key points made, which topics have been responded to and how we will deal with each response.

In some cases we will simply be addressing the points when we bring forward the proposed plan, in other cases we may need further information from the respondent to be able to fully address their response or have a meeting with the respondent to discuss through their response. We will be holding these meetings early 2010 and we will be posting a brief summary of these meetings online. In addition a number of responses have brought up issues which are best addressed by the forthcoming area local development plans for either the Inner Moray Firth, Caithness and Sutherland or West Highlands and Islands. We will be writting to these respondants to let them know the timescale for when we will be producing these plans. This information will also be presented in our 2010 Development Plan Scheme which we are starting to produce and will be submitted to the Scottish Government by 31st March 2010.

In due course we will be putting all responses to the Main Issues Report on our website. The first of these to go up will be the responses of Key Agencies to the Main Issues Report, we hope to have these online prior to the closure of the council offices for the holiday period*.

There are a number of topics that have sparked much debate following the consultation on the Main Issues Report. In these cases we will be posting a summary of the responses to these topics and how we may tackle them in the proposed plan. If there are any specific areas of the Highland wide Local Development Plan which you would like us to address in these discussion posts please either leave a comment on this post or send us an e-mail to devplans@highland.gov.uk.

*It should be noted all responses (to the main issues report) which are placed online will be redacted and therefore personal contact details in the form of e-mail, telephone number etc will not be made available for the general public to see. Also if a response has been marked as private and confidential there may be elements of the response which we may redact for confidentiality reasons. This is inline with the Highland Council's guidance on redaction.

Auldearn Community Council - 1st December 2009

2009-12-03T10:29:00.002Z

On Monday evening (01/12/09), Simon was invited to speak to Auldearn Community Council on the subject of planning with a focus on the Highland wide Local Devleopment Plan. During the meeting copies of the Scottish Government's "Guide to the Planning System in Scotland"were distributed for reference to give people additional information on the background to the reformed Scottish Planning System. The document is available for download at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/281542/0084999.pdf.

Simon gave a presentation describing the Modernising the Planning Agenda set out by the Scottish Government and how the Highland Council are moving forward to Deliver Planning Reform. The presentation then moved on to explain the content of the Main Issues Report and how we will be moving forward to the next stage of the plan making process.

The main points raised in the question and discussion afterwards were:

The need for protection of prime agricultural land;
The difficulty that may be faced in bringing forward such a plan in difficult times for the economy;
The provision of a by-pass for Nairn; and
The need for infrastructure to be provided when it is needed or preferably before it is needed when new developments are being brought forward.

We would like to thank all those who attended the meeting and Auldearn Community Council for inviting us to discuss the plans for Highland.

If there are any other groups who would like us to give a presentation on how we are moving forward with Delivering Planning Reform within development planning at Highland Council please contact the development plans team on (01463) 702261 or e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk.

Highland Youth Voice Conference 2009

2009-11-23T09:39:00.004Z

On Saturday Simon was at the Highland Youth Voice Conference, Badaguish talking about and encouraging feedback on the Highland wide Local Development Plan.

During the morning session Simon gave a brief presentation and then held a workshop asking everyone to let him know what they would like to see improved about Highland with a specific focus on housing, transport and the environment. Simon explained that while there are some issues we can't tackle in the Highland wide Plan we will pass the comments on to other services within the Council and ask them to consider them while producing their plans and strategies. The map below shows the comments made by those involved in the workshop.

During the afternoon session Simon was helped by the Highland Youth Voice to judge the Keep Us in the Picture Competition and the winners will be announced in a press release shortly.

Simon asked the Highland Youth Voice how they would like to be engaged on planning issues in the future. He explained a few different methods of consultation and then asked people to let him know which would really encourage them to get invovled. The list below sets out what were the most popular;

Use Social Networking Sites like, Facebook, Bebo and Twitter;
Graffiti Walls in Youth Cafés and Youth Centres;
Scrapbooks;
Presentations at School Assemblies.

Simon would like to thank everyone at the Highland Youth Voice for their feedback and we will be continuing work with the Highland Youth Voice through the Youth Services Team over the coming months.

Keep an eye out for the winners of the Keep Us in the Picture Competition!

Youth engagement on the Highland wide Local Development Plan

2009-11-17T15:08:00.002Z

We are continuing to work with young people to raise awareness of the planning system and how they can get involved.

This weekend (20th-22nd November 2009) the Highland Youth Voice Conference is being held in Badaguish, near Aviemore. The theme for this years conference is, "It's all about YOUth". Simon will be holding a workshop with members of the Highland Youth Voice to discuss planning generally and what the Highland wide Local Development Plan could mean for Highland. There will also be activities around some of the big issues and Simon will be asking where young people would like to see more housing and what type, how we could help the environment and how can we tackle transport.

In the afternoon, the members of Highland Youth Voice will be judging the Keep Us in the Picture Competition which we ran alongside the consultation on the Main Issues Report and have had numerous entries. We have some ideas about how to consult young people in the future and at the conference we will be asking the Highland Youth Voice which consultation methods they would find most beneficial and easy to engage with.

We will put a post out early next week about the feedback recieved from the conference.

Having your say on the future of Highland

2009-11-05T16:30:00.002Z

Below is a press release issued by The Highland Council earlier in the week. The press release can also be viewed here.

The consultation on the Main Issues Report for the Highland wide Local Development Plan is coming to an end on the 9th of November 2009.

The consultation was formally launched in Wick on the 31st August 2009 and since then the Development Plans Team has been working to encourage feedback on the Main Issues Report, draft Local Transport, Housing and Coastal Development Strategies. The team have attended and hosted over 50 information days, ward forums and other meetings with specific groups. They have informed over 1300 individuals and groups that are on the Council’s consultation database, distributed more than 800 Main Issues Reports to interested parties and advertised in a number of local publications. Young people have also had a chance to have their say through the “Keep us in the Picture” competition and through on going involvement of Highland Youth Voice.

The Highland wide Local Development Plan Blog has been used to let people know about upcoming events and provide summaries of feedback received at these events. The blog has been visited by people from across the area and has been welcomed as a way in which to quickly update people on the production of the Highland wide Local Development Plan. You can view the blog at http://hwldp.blogspot.com.

Following the close of the consultation the Development Plans Team will take into consideration all responses to the Main Issues Report before producing the proposed plan which will be published in the new year. There will be a chance to have your say on the proposed plan with a consultation planned to last at least 6 weeks.

Development Plans Manager Malcolm MacLeod said: “We would encourage people from right across the Highland area to give us feedback on the Main Issues Report. If you or your group don’t think you will be able to meet the deadline of the 9th November, please still try and get us any feedback you may have by the end of November so we can carefully consider it before we start work on the proposed plan stage of the Highland wide Local Development.”

The Main Issues Report is available to view in 79 locations (including all libraries and service points) across Highland and on the website at /developmentplans, here you can also view information about the “Keep us in the Picture” competition and how you can respond to the consultation. If you have any questions please contact the Development Plans Team on 01463 702261 or devplans@highland.gov.uk.