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CITY REGION BOUNDARIES STUDY
CHAPTER TWO SURVEY OF COUNCILS
2.1 Before undertaking fresh analysis to review what can be learned about the areas of influence of the four cities, it is useful to summarise current analysis methods being used by Councils to address cross boundary planning issues.
2.2 All Councils in Scotland were consulted by letter inviting them to describe:
- What quantitative data is currently used to assess cross boundary planning issues such as travel to work, housing markets, travel patterns, and retail catchments.
- What the results of the cross boundary analysis shows and how they has been used in planning.
2.3 Despite a very short consultation timescale over a holiday period, 19 Councils responded and these are summarised in Appendix E. There were many detailed perspectives, but there were a few overall issues which emerged as follows:
- General - As might be expected, most analysis of cross boundary issues is undertaken by Structure Plan teams. In the Glasgow and Clyde Valley area the reliance on the Structure Plan team is greatest. Many Councils emphasised the importance of clear cross boundary administrative structures to ensure that strategic issues were thoroughly analysed, and within which complex issues or disagreements could be resolved. The Councils also commented that high quality national and cross boundary analysis is not a substitute for good local analysis to inform local planning.
- Housing - The Communities Scotland analysis of housing market areas is widely used and supplemented with local analysis of Sasines data in some places.
- Retail - Local retail catchments and shopping surveys are widespread but often need to cover a wider geography than existing Structure Plan areas.
- Travel to Work Areas - The 1991 census data is still widely used but some Councils have also obtained more recent travel data from household surveys to identify any significant changes from 1991. Local economic development studies have also proved to be useful in looking at labour market catchments.
- Transport Links - Local planning data has fed into national transport modelling but the results of the national transport studies, and the implications for planning policy have yet to be defined.
2.4 More detailed consultations were undertaken with the Structure Plan Teams for the four city areas. These added greater depth to many of the individual Council comments about the complex interactions between different areas. When considering planning issues across a wider geographical area than individual Council areas, the polycentric nature of the city regions becomes more important. This emphasises that cross boundary issues are important for more than just the major cities and their hinterlands. Planning in Scotland needs to take account of a large number of overlapping boundaries which vary according to the planning issue being considered.
2.5 The telephone and face to face discussions also provided an opportunity for wider comments about the use of data and analysis in joint working. These discussions reinforced the general point above that there needs to be an administrative structure which incentivises cross boundary planning, and which helps to facilitate consensus and compromise on any areas of potential conflict.
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