The Scottish Government

Name

Pamela Ewen

Job title

Organisation

Fife Council

Address

Development Services, Fife House, North Street, Glenrothes, Fife, KY7 5LT

Telephone

08451 55 55 55 (extension 44 22 81)

Fax

-

Email

pamela.ewen@fife.gov.uk

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Development Plans Development Management Development on the Ground Community Involvement

Title of entry

The Fife Masterplans Handbook

Professional knowledge Innovation Management Sustainable development

Partnership Community interest Regeneration Customer satisfaction

The Fife Masterplans Handbook not only provides innovative professional guidance, but places community engagement at the heart of bringing forward new development in Fife.

The handbook was prepared by Gillespies LLP on behalf of Fife Council and provides a step-by-step process towards achieving sustainable communities within the masterplan process and puts place making at the heart of new development.

It aims to guide developers, communities, householders and all stakeholders through a logical process based on an appreciation of the qualities that make Fife distinctive, relating that to the local landscape and spatial context of the masterplan area.

The handbook sets out a series of prompts to thinking about how to achieve better quality places through the masterplan process. It culminates best practice design guidance with an appreciation and understanding of the unique qualities of Fife to assist developers and built environment professionals in the formulation of masterplans.

It provides guidance on the formulation of a masterplan brief, incorporating the preparation of a business case; involving key stakeholders; and identifying the appropriate skills and review panel for the project.

The Fife Masterplans Handbook sets out the components of a spatial masterplan; looks at the key aspects of urban form; and suggests prompts to thinking about graphics and the communication of development proposals.

It also provides guidance on the practical issues of feasibility; site assembly and delivery that require to be addressed in order to successfully implement a masterplan.

Above all, it raises the quality of place making in Fife and provides a benchmark, a minimum quality standard, to which those promoting development are responding to positively.

The importance of creating high quality new development and sustainable communities is established at the top of both the UK Government and the Scottish Parliament's national agenda. Planning Policy Statement 'Designing Places' argues that 'good quality design is an integral part of a confident, competitive and compassionate Scotland.' Fife Council shares this vision and is actively promoting a better Fife through a commitment to quality, particularly in terms of place making and sustainability.

Fife Council has responded to this national commitment to promote good architecture, design and planning in the built environment by producing new urban design policies and guidance to improve the quality of life in Fife. The Council is committed to raising the quality of place through new development, proactively promoting policy and guidance to ensure that Fife's communities, decision-makers and those investing in Fife through new development share this commitment.

In September 2005, Fife Council published the Fife Urban Design Action Plan, which set out the steps the Council would take in order to respond to the emerging national strategy aimed at putting design issues to the forefront of planning practice. The first key output from this Action Plan was the publication in December 2005 of Creating a Better Fife: The Fife Urban Design Guide.

In parallel with policy and guidance being developed on urban design and masterplanning, the new Fife Structure Plan is promoting a number of expansions to existing townsthroughout Fife ranging from 300 to 4,000 houses together with other uses. It is of vital importance that these new developments are planned with community engagement at the heart of the process, with the overall objective of providing good quality places.

Fife Council is committed to community engagement and implements the 10 national standards. The Council wants to further develop the process of engagement in Fife, responding to the new Planning Act. The handbook provides a clear process of achieving positive engagement.

The Fife Masterplans Handbook was produced to assist those investing in Fife's future through new development to implement the guidance offered in the Fife Urban Design Guide

The vision of the Finalised Fife Structure Plan flows from the Fife Community Plan and is underpinned by quality, particularly in terms of place making and sustainability. The Fife Masterplans Handbook has been produced to assist in implementing this vision.

The handbook follows best practice in place making and sustainability, drawing together "state of the art" thinking from a number of prominent partners in the environment and development spheres.

It has four main objectives:

• To create sustainable communities;

• To create successful places;

• To create a better quality of physical design; and,

• To improve environmental performance.

In achieving these 4 objectives, implementing Planning Advice Note 81 is embedded throughout the process to ensure community engagement is both effective and integral.

The study considered a number of case studies. These considered proposals which were of a high standard at the masterplan stage and either did or did not get implemented in the essence of the masterplan. An understanding and knowledge was gained of best practice and areas that could be the focus of improvement in the process.

Through the dissemination of the Fife Masterplans Handbook, Fife Council will raise the quality of design within the masterplan process and raise expectations in order to achieve sustainable communities. This document is now the benchmark against which all masterplan proposals in Fife will be tested.

Invitations to tender for the work of producing the Fife Masterplans Handbook were sent out in June 2006. The final document was handed over to Fife Council from Gillespies LLP in November 2006.

The handbook was produced to follow on from the Fife Urban Design Guide and in parallel with the Finalised Fife Structure Plan. The timing of this guidance is important to ensure that the standard of proposed developments is raised across Fife.

The handbook was launched at Fife's annual Housing Forum, with over 100 delegates from the development industry. This provided an excellent platform to outline the objectives of the handbook. Positive feedback has been received from many in the industry and recognition of the Council's proactive approach to setting out what is expected and how this should be achieved. The handbook continues to be widely distributed.

The Council needs to ensure that the handbook is being used within the different Services of the Council, in discussions with the development industry and through individuals' roles in the masterplan process. To ensure that awareness and understanding of the handbook Gillespies LLP were further commissioned to provide half day training events for officers in Development Services, Transportation, Housing, Education, Estates and other key services.

The production of the handbook itself is the start of implementing the masterplan process. Training officers on masterplanning was a commitment from the outset. Further training will soon be considered for elected members and Community Councils.

The main steps in the process of producing the Fife Masterplans Handbook were as follows:

• Invitations to Tender for the production of the document;

• Gillespies LLP appointed following competitive interview;

• Review of Fife's Urban Design guidance/policy literature, including the general scope of the current Structure Plan and Creating a Better Fife : Fife Urban Design Guide;

• Review of masterplan guidance documentation and best practice prepared by others, including the Scottish Executive, CABE, English Partnerships, the Housing Federation and the Urban Design Group;

• Series of meetings between Fife Council and Gillespies LLP to establish initial scope through to final detail of the Fife Masterplans Handbook;

• Submission of the draft Fife Masterplans Handbook to a critique panel comprising Fife Council staff and prominent external partners in the environment and development spheres; and,

• Production of final version of the Fife Masterplans Handbook incorporating the advice and comments from the external critique panel.

The critique panel was separate from the contract with Gillespies LLP. The panel was commissioned by Fife Council to provide in-depth knowledge and experience. The members of the critique panel were as follows:

• Cllr Alan Kenney (Fife Council) - Chair and Urban Design Champion
• Gerardine Hemingway (Hemingway Design)
• Richard Murphy (Richard Murphy Architects)
• Sebastian Tombs (Architecture & Design Scotland)
• Dr Katherine Leys (Scottish Natural Heritage)
• Diarmaid Lawlor (Gillespies LLP)
• Stuart Knowles (Fife Council - Transportation Services)
• Pamela Ewen (Fife Council - Development Services)
• Dilys Livingston (Fife Council - Development Services)
• Alison Wood (Fife Council - Development Services)
• Martin McGroarty (Fife Council - Development Services)

As set out above actions did not stop with the production of the handbook. A focus on dissemination and training followed and continues.

Fife Council:

• Proactive action to provide guidance to implement the Fife Structure Plan vision

• Demonstrating the commitment to implementing the national design agenda at the local level

• Commissioning critique panel at draft study stage

• Liaison with Gillespies LLP at all stages, together with provision of background material

• Disseminating and implementing the guidance

• Sharing the guidance with other Planning Authorities

Gillespies LLP:

• Provision of leading urban design professionals

• Review of current Council policy

• Review of current best practice, identifying and exploring case studies

• Production of the document

The end result of the process is a document which assists Fife Council, in partnership with the development industry and all other stakeholders, to shape and deliver high-quality sustainable communities in Fife. It also assists in speeding up the planning process, with a focus on pre-application engagement and development of the proposal.

The Fife Masterplans Handbook captures the most up-to-date best practice in masterplanning for sustainable communities and allows Fife Council to assist developers to optimise the quality of their development proposals.

From the developers' point of view, adherence to the document improves the level of certainty that their development proposals will gain support from the local community and planning permission.

The use of a critique panel at the draft study stage had positive results. It resulted in a higher quality study, having been scrutinised and debated.

The handbook is the output from the process. This is a very positive result. The real benefits will arise through the outcomes - the quality of places that are developed and the quality of life that people will enjoy living there.

As a masterplanning guidance document, Fife Council believes the Fife Masterplans Handbook to be a model of its kind.

The submission of the draft version of the Handbook to a high-profile critique panel ensured that the final document captured current best practice in the field, drawing on the breadth and depth of experience and knowledge of the panel.

In pursuit of the Scottish Executive's drive to give good design a more prominent role in Planning, the Fife Masterplans Handbook takes a step on from merely telling developers what they need to do by showing them, in a step-by-step fashion, what it is they need to do to improve the quality of Fife's towns and villages. Moreover, it provides guidance and reassurance for other stakeholders, notably local communities, that they will be given the opportunity to engage with the development promoters, designers and others to help shape new places.

28/09/2007