« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLANS
12. Strategic development plan authorities ( SDPAs) are required by the Act to prepare and review strategic development plans ( SDPs), and submit these to Scottish Ministers within four years of the approval of the existing plan.
Monitoring
13. In all cases SDPs will replace one or more existing structure plan. So an early task of the SDPA will be to monitor:
- changes in the principal physical, economic, social and environmental characteristics of the SDP area that have occurred since the preparation of the existing structure plan(s); and
- the impact of the policies and proposals of the existing structure plan(s).
14. As a product of this exercise, the Act requires SDPAs to publish a monitoring statement. Future generations of SDP must be based on similar monitoring exercises of the existing SDP. The SDPA are to publish the monitoring statement, including electronically, alongside the publication of any main issues report.
Form and content of strategic development plans
15. A SDP must contain a number of elements. Principally these are:
(1) A vision statement. The Act requires that this will be a broad statement of how the development of the area could and should occur and the matters that might be expected to affect that development, including:
- the principal physical, economic, social and environmental characteristics of the area;
- the principal land uses in the area;
- the size, composition and distribution of population in the area;
- the infrastructure of the area (including communications, transport and drainage systems and systems for the supply of water and energy);
- how that infrastructure is used; and
- any anticipated change in these matters.
(2) Policies. Draft regulation 2 (Annex A) proposes that plans must include policies on the location of housing, economic and retail development, infrastructure improvements and the types of location that should be protected from development.
(3) A spatial strategy. The Act states that this will be a broadly based statement of proposals as to the development and use of land in the area.
(4) The Act also requires the inclusion of an analysis of the relationship with development and land use proposals in neighbouring areas that are likely to affect the SDP area.
16. While the Act allows SDPAs to include any other matters in the plan that it considers appropriate, draft regulation 2 specifically requires an SDP to also include:
- the name of the SDP area;
- a list of the authorities comprising the SDPA;
- an executive summary;
- reasoned justification for the policies and proposals of the plan; and
- a glossary.
17. Overall, our intention has been to maximise the freedom that SDPAs may exercise in preparing SDPs to suit local circumstances, while securing the minimum requirements for meeting Ministers' expectations for the strategic element of the new development plan system. In considering the content of SDPs, regard should also be had to the statutory requirement to exercise development planning functions with the objective of contributing to sustainable development. Statutory guidance on how to achieve this requirement was published in draft in March 2007 and is due to be finalised around the end of 2007.
Q2 Do the regulations on SDP content need to say more to ensure that SDPs are effective tools for leading and managing change in the largest city-regions?
Q3 Do you support the approach to listing the key topics that need to be covered by policies at the strategic level and do you support the topics listed?
18. The SDP may contain or be accompanied by any maps, diagrams, illustrations or other descriptive matter the SDPA thinks appropriate. But draft Regulation 2 (Annex B) proposes that it must contain a Proposals Map describing the spatial strategy. The Proposals Map should be sufficiently detailed to enable the location of proposals to be identified. This would be a significant change in approach from the key diagrams of existing structure plans. The suggestion is not that proposals in SDPs should be site-specific, but that where policies or proposals have a spatial dimension, it should be clear which areas they apply to, even if these are broad areas of search for new development sites. Given the size of SDP areas, such maps would inevitably be relatively small scale. The proposed regulations continue to state that, in the event of any discrepancy between the map and the text of the SDP, the written statement will take precedence.
Q4 Is the move to an accurate map base for SDP Proposals Maps workable?
Q5 Do you support the continuing primacy of the written text of the SDP (or LDP) or would a move to primacy for the Proposals Map help to strengthen the spatial dimension of the plan?
Preparation of the strategic development plan
19. In preparing a SDP or main issues report, the Act requires the SDPA to take into account the National Planning Framework. Draft regulation 3 also proposes it must have regard to:
- The resources available for carrying out the policies and proposals in the plan;
- Any approved or proposed SDP for a neighbouring SDP area;
- Any regional transport strategy or river basin management plan relating to the area;
- The national waste management plan; and
- Issues arising out of the European directive on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances.
Q6 Do you support the list of information and considerations that the SDPA must take into account when preparing a SDP or main issues report?
The main issues report
20. With a view to facilitating and informing their work in preparing a SDP, a SDPA must first compile a main issues report ( MIR). This is not intended to be a draft plan, but should focus on the key issues that are changing from the last plan.
21. The Act requires that the MIR must set out the authority's general proposals for development in the area and in particular proposals as to where development should and should not occur. The proposals must be explained sufficiently clearly and precisely to enable people to understand what is proposed and to make meaningful comments. The MIR must also contain one or more reasonable alternative sets of proposals. Finally, the MIR must draw attention to the ways in which the favoured and alternative proposals differ from the spatial strategy of the existing approved SDP (if any). There is no legal requirement to draw such a comparison with existing structure plans, but it would be good practice to do this within the first generation of main issues reports.
22. SDPs must be fully co-ordinated with other key strategies from the earliest stage with key infrastructure providers signed up to the delivery of the emerging proposals. Therefore, in preparing the MIR (i.e. before its publication), the Act requires SDPAs to consult with, and have regard to the views of:
- the key agencies; and
- neighbouring planning authorities.
23. Draft regulation 4 proposes that, at this stage, SDPAs must also engage with:
- Scottish Ministers; and
- the Health and Safety Executive;
24. The MIR stage should link closely to the process of Strategic Environmental Assessment ( SEA). The intention is for the alternative proposals put forward at this stage to be environmentally appraised and for a draft environmental report to be published alongside the MIR. Further guidance will be provided in due course on how the SEA process and the development plan process can fit together.
25. Draft regulation 5 proposes the following minimum publication requirements to apply at the main issues report, proposed plan and modified plan stages:
- Publication of a notice in the Edinburgh Gazette and a local newspaper, setting out:
- That the document has been prepared, and where and when it may be viewed;
- A brief description of the content and purpose of the document;
- Details of how further information may be obtained; and
- A statement that representations may be made, and how, to whom and by when they should be made.
- Sending this information to:
- The key agencies;
- Adjoining planning authorities or SDPAs;
- The Health and Safety Executive; and
- Community councils
- Making a copy of the document available to inspect at an office of each of the constituent planning authorities and in all public libraries in the plan area; and
- Publication on the internet.
26. The Act requires authorities to secure that people who may be expected to want to comment on the MIR are made aware that they can do so, and are given such an opportunity. Draft regulation 6 proposes that this should be done through the sending of a notice containing the same information as the newspaper notice.
27. In publishing the MIR, the SDPA are to send a copy of the report and the monitoring statement (referred to at para 14 above) to Scottish Ministers.
28. The issues around publicity are similar for SDPs and LDPs. To avoid repetition, these are discussed at paras 54 to 58 below, together with consultation questions which apply to both types of plan.
The proposed strategic development plan
29. The SDPA are to have regard to the representations submitted on the MIR, and are then to prepare and publish a proposed SDP. The proposed plan is to be published in the same way as for the MIR under regulation 5. Copies of the plan are to be sent to the key agencies and neighbouring planning authorities, and people who commented on the MIR are to be notified. The SDPA are also to consult the key agencies, the Health and Safety Executive and Scottish Ministers.
30. Following the close of consultations on the proposed plan, the SDPA may modify it to take account of representations, matters arising out of consultations or representations, or any minor drafting or technical matters. There are now two possibilities:
(1) Where the modifications are so significant as to change the underlying aims or strategy of the plan, the SDPA must prepare and publish a new proposed plan.
(2) Where this is not the case, the SDPA are to publish the modified plan in the same way as for the MIR under
regulation 5.
31. Following a further opportunity for representations to be made on the modifications, the SDPA are to submit the plan to Scottish Ministers. Section 10(3) in the Act requires that, along with the modified plan, the SDPA are to submit:
- a note of the representations made and of whether and how those representations were taken account of in the modified plan;
- a report as to how far the SDPA, in preparing the plan, has conformed with the commitments made regarding consultation and public involvement in their participation statement; and
- a copy of their proposed action programme for the plan.
32. Draft regulation 8 sets out the following requirements for publicity around the submission of plan to Ministers:
- Publication of a notice in a local newspaper and electronically;
- Sending the notice to the key agencies and people who submitted representations on the plan; and
- Making a copy of the submitted plan available for inspection in planning offices and public libraries.
Examination
33. Proposed procedures for the examination of SDPs will be covered by separate draft regulations which we expect to issue later in the year.
Approval or Rejection
34. Once they have received the proposed SDP from a SDPA, and the report from the person who carried out the examination (if any), Scottish Ministers will approve or reject the plan. Where the plan is approved this may either be in whole or in part, and Ministers may, in approving the plan, modify it. The procedure for making modifications will vary depending on whether an examination has been held:
- Where there has been an examination, Ministers may make modifications in approving the plan, and will set out reasons for these.
- Where there has not been an examination, Ministers will publish any modifications, along with the reasons for making them, and consult with bodies including the key agencies and the SDPA. In these circumstances, there will be an opportunity to make representations on the modifications prior to Ministers approving the plan. Ministers may make further modifications in the light of representations received at this stage, but these will not be subject to further consultation. Scottish Ministers will notify the SDPA of any such representations received.
Publication of and publicity for the approved plan
35. Section 14 of the Act requires that as soon as possible after approval, the SDPA are to publish the plan (including electronically) and send two copies to Scottish Ministers. They are also to place a copy of the approved plan in local libraries, and advertise in a local newspaper and notify people who made representations on the plan that the SDP has been published and is available for inspection.
« Previous | Contents | Next »