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CITY REGION BOUNDARIES STUDY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The "Review of Strategic Planning" consultation paper was published in June 2001. It recognised the need for improvements to strategic planning in Scotland and proposed changes to modernise and streamline the planning system. In particular, it suggested that a two-tier system of development planning was not necessary for all areas, with two-tiers only being needed for strategic issues likely to cross local authority boundaries. In parallel with the Review of Strategic Planning, a Review of Scotland's Cities started in 2001 and is scheduled for conclusion in 2002. The review examines the current prospects for the economic, environmental and social development of the cities; and will identify Scottish Executive policies that will improve those prospects, taking account of the interactions between the cities, their surrounding areas and the rest of Scotland. This study was commissioned to define the broad sphere of influence for the cities of: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. This report describes the results of data analysis and mapping of the cross boundary issues for the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen covering: housing market areas, travel to work areas, strategic transport links, and retail catchments.
2. A survey of Local Authorities and Structure Plan Teams identified current data sources used to analyse cross boundary issues. For housing, travel to work, and transport, national data was used from sasines, census, and strategic transport models respectively. For analysis of retail catchments, many councils had undertaken their own surveys or collectively undertaken surveys as part of Structure Plan preparation.
3. An analysis of house moves from each city Council to other Council areas between 1996 and 2000 showed that: 13 Councils received more than 200 house moves from Glasgow, 9 Councils received more than 200 moves from Edinburgh, 3 from Dundee and 2 from Aberdeen. For Glasgow the Councils receiving these moves comprised the existing Structure Plan Councils, plus North Ayrshire, Stirling, Edinburgh and Fife. For Edinburgh, in addition to the Structure Plan Councils, Fife, Scottish Borders and Glasgow attracted the most moves, whilst for Aberdeen and Dundee the Structure Plan areas were largely self-contained. Planning has more power to steer development where demand is high and the need for a strategic perspective is perhaps greatest for up-market property where purchasers are generally more mobile. The boundaries of the housing market areas are therefore sensitive to planning policy.
4. There is very little overlap between current 30 minute travel time contours by road and rail from the city centres. The 30 minute contours also broadly define the boundaries of the Strategic Transport Planning Partnerships in Scotland with the exception of Stirling and Falkirk which are closer to Glasgow than Edinburgh, but are members of SESTRAN (the South East Scotland Transport Partnership).
5. Travel to work areas (TTWA) have changed very substantially over the last ten years for Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, but not for Aberdeen. In 1991 there were relatively few travel to work trips beyond the current Structure Plan areas, but there are now many areas outwith the Plan coverage with more than 10% of the population travelling to the city. For Edinburgh this includes much of south Fife and the northern Scottish Borders, and for Glasgow includes parts of Stirlingshire and Ayrshire.
6. The role of the cities is greatest for comparison shopping, but national trip data are only available for all shopping trips. The shopping trip data shows that most trips are within current Structure Plan areas. For Glasgow the majority of trips from beyond the Structure Plan area are from Ayrshire, Stirlingshire and Argyll and Bute; for Edinburgh from Scottish Borders, for Dundee from north Fife, and for Aberdeen from Angus. Analysis of accessibility to comparison shopping suggests a significantly wider spread of influence for Glasgow and Edinburgh. Glasgow provides more than 10% of the accessibility for 13 Council areas, and Edinburgh for 6 Council areas. The shopping trip analysis is likely to underestimate the spread of influence of the cities, and the accessibility analysis is likely to exaggerate the importance of the larger cities.
7. The analyses for the housing market areas, travel to work areas and retail catchments have been combined to develop indicative composite catchments for the cities. For each city, the Councils attracting composite scores over 40% of the maximum are:
- Glasgow - North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Stirling.
- Edinburgh - East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Fife, Scottish Borders and Falkirk.
- Dundee - Angus, Perth and Kinross, and Fife.
- Aberdeen - Aberdeenshire.
8. However, the city regions have many centres with differing zones of influence. A similar analysis of the overlapping spheres of influence of all the Councils in the central belt would provide a clearer picture of the city region boundaries.
9. The data and maps presented in this report can be viewed as a starting point for identifying cross boundary planning issues for the four largest cities. To define the geographical coverage required for joint strategic planning, further work is recommended including policy aims and a wider range of strategic planning needs.
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