Sustainable Development and Climate Change
Sustainable development looks to ensure that any planning decision balances social and economic development with environmental integrity. In planning terms it strives to promote and implement planning permissions that have the right qualities in the right locations.
Climate change is a global imperative in which Scotland has an important role to play and which has as much economic significance as it does social and environmental. It should be seen as the principal opportunity in sustainable development.
Policy Summary
The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 stipulates that any work relating to the preparation of the National Planning Framework and development planning should make a positive contribution to sustainable development.
Planning can contribute to sustainable development through: location; layout and operation; and maintenance. It must also explicitly help to mitigate the causes of climate change and to adapt to its impacts.