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REVIEW OF GREEN BELT POLICY IN SCOTLAND

CHAPTER THREE REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT PLANS

INTRODUCTION

3.1 An early task in the research involved undertaking a scan of development plans. To facilitate systematic recording of salient features, a proforma was developed as shown in Table 3.1 below. This uses the broad structure of issues set out in the Proposal, as summarised in Chapter 1, and cross-refers to issues identified in the Brief (para 11).

Table 3.1: Green Belt planscan proforma

3.2 All areas in Scotland with past, present or proposed Green Belts were identified, and responsibility divided across the team for reviewing the relevant planning documents, which were accessed by varying means (SBE Resource Library, Staff's own copies, Websites, etc.). The purpose of this review was twofold. Firstly, it provided an early picture of the characteristics of existing policies and recent policy changes in different areas across Scotland. Secondly, it provided a basic input to the case studies which are reported more fully in Chapter 5.

3.3 It is not appropriate to provide a detailed account of the presentation of Green Belt policies in all areas. Rather more detail is provided in the Case Studies reported in Chapter 5. In this chapter, we concentrate on drawing out common features and also highlighting some differences.

PURPOSES OF GREEN BELTS

3.4 Green Belts are generally quite significant planning policies in the areas where they are promulgated. Recent plans and reviews tend to reinforce their position and extend their scope. Green belts seem to be introduced or maintained particularly in areas experiencing growth pressures and perceiving a need for proactive 'growth management'. Dundee is an exceptional case, where as described in Chapter 5 a substantial Green Belt was removed in the early 1980s and replaced by more specific development plan policies and criteria. It is probably not coincidence that Dundee is the city region in Scotland which experiences the lowest level of development pressure, although as the Case Study shows the period since this policy change has seen a significant amount of development in the previously designated area.

3.5 Older plans/belts tended to rely heavily on the Circular 24/85 statement of purposes, emphasizing the prevention of physical urban growth/sprawl, the prevention of coalescence of settlements, the maintenance of a clear distinction between town and country, and maintaining the landscape setting of the town/city. The notion of urban identity links at least two of these goals. More recent plans/reviews introduce aims/purposes to do with urban regeneration/brownfield development and Sustainable Development (including through impact on transport and travel).

3.6 Protection of agricultural land featured in some earlier plans, but has apparently dropped out or down to a lower level of importance in some more recent plans. However, in important instances (e.g. Glasgow and Clyde Valley) the protection of agriculture and forestry from inappropriate development remains in place as a function. Some rural areas in commuting distance of cities are seen as at risk from the cumulative effects of individual house development. Recreation has come in recently as a positive purpose in some cases, as has the concept of 'environmental management'. 'Institutional use' features in at least one area as both a purpose and an acceptable form of development; this would seem to raise considerable issues around definition and rationale.

3.7 There are examples of Green Belts having in part the purpose of safeguarding land for or around strategic economic/infrastructural features, such as Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire, although in this instance the Green Belt has more recently adopted a more conventional profile of functions. Green Belts have also performed this kind of function de facto, without it really being their original or prime purpose (e.g. Edinburgh Airport, Strategic Economic Sites in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley).

3.8 As highlighted elsewhere in this report, the traditional view of Green Belts embodied in Circular 24/85 does not treat the 'quality' of the landscape or its ecology as material to the core purposes of Green Belt. However, it is clear that some of the planning documents reviewed do implicitly treat quality as an important criterion in decisions about changes to the Green Belt boundary when major releases are at issue.

URBAN FORM

3.9 Concerns expressed within the planning documents include a recognition that growth pressures and land requirements for housing and economic development have to be recognised. Some recent proposals claim that they meet these requirements in a more sustainable fashion than alternatives, and that spillover effects (e.g. 'leapfrogging') are controlled by other policies. Major changes in some cases (notably Aberdeen) are explicitly intended to lessen the problem of unsustainable leapfrogging. Other proposals leave question marks about such effects.

3.10 There is still a widespread adherence to the spatial concept of a continuous belt, but interesting variation in the width of this and the relationship with and between nearby settlements. The Glasgow and Clyde Valley belt is notably deep, containing substantial satellite and free-standing settlements, whilst other belts are generally narrower. However, not all Green Belts form a continuous ring, with Ayrshire for example involving distinct sectors, while the Clyde Valley Green Belt is envisaged as a green network and set of buffers between corridor-oriented strategic development zones. Aberdeen is radically restructuring its Green Belt in this fashion. Green wedges leading back into the urban area feature explicitly in some plans. Some of the smaller Green Belts are effectively small scale buffers between particular settlements.

3.11 Setting of detailed boundaries is an ongoing issue in many cases (pending Local Plan revision), with some earlier boundaries being criticised as weak and poorly justified. The concept of 'defensible' boundaries which make sense on the ground is relevant.

NATURE OF THE REGIME

3.12 The general tenor of these plans is to treat the Green Belt as a durable, permanent feature - phrases like 'long term' occur frequently. However, this is slightly attenuated by the extent to which boundaries have been revised, substantial new housing developments permitted, and particular important non-housing uses allowed to develop within some Green Belt areas. Some plans state explicitly that the duration of the Belt equates to that of the plan, while in other cases it is clear that some plan reviews have been the occasion of significant releases of former Green Belt land.

3.13 Allowable uses are generally fairly restrictive and follow the lines of the Circular. However, recreation has gained respectability. 'Rural diversification' is not admitted as a grounds for relaxing strict controls on development in the Green Belt, but in some cases in the countryside beyond there is an explicit relaxation on these grounds. In general, Green Belts entail a tighter development control framework than the general countryside. Provision for exceptions remains in some plans, for example where these offer 'exceptional' economic development benefits. There also appears to be some exceptional provision for 'high quality' housing on the edge of certain urban areas, which may entail some use of Green Belt land, although sometimes this is seen as part of a 'swap' involving the greening of current brownfield sites.

3.14 Green Belts are complemented in many cases by the identification of locations or zones for major developments to be accommodated over the plan period and beyond, and in some cases these zones take a corridor form associated with transport infrastructure.

3.15 Some plans have amended boundaries to avoid overlap with other designations like Regional Parks, suggesting that these are seen as alternative designations. Small scale 'protected' sites (SSSIs, SINCs) however are commonly found within Green Belt areas. This implies a layering of different levels of protection. There are also apparently more general differences in the classification of areas within larger Green Belts such as the Clyde Valley, with different locational categories implicitly entailing different control regimes (or responses to differing pressures).

3.16 Green Belts are a strategic policy issue addressed in Structure Plans, with Local Plans playing the role of defining the particular boundaries. We were struck in some instances by the different degree of emphasis on Green Belt between plans at the two levels, with in some cases Local Plans not appearing to place so much emphasis on the issue as Structure Plans. Whether this implies a different policy view or a potential 'implementation gap' is unclear, but we return to this issue in the Case Studies.

3.17 Some plans make explicit mention of monitoring arrangements to keep track of development proposals and decisions in Green Belts. In other cases we are aware that such arrangements are in place, but not clear how much attention has been paid to these monitoring data.

LAND MANAGEMENT

3.18 In some cases plans make explicit the linkage between potential acceptable development and demonstrating environmental enhancement. Specific programmes of environmental improvement, access and management are mentioned in several cases. In the case of Aberdeen's revised approach, large scale new developments in the sectors earmarked for development will be expected to contribute to these improvements in the adjacent Green Belt areas. However, there is evidence in some cases that the resources to fully realise the recreational and environmental enhancements aspired to in the 'green network' vision are not all in place.

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