Planning Policy
Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 8 on Retailing is designed to guide local areas in planning for the development of town centres and responding to development proposals for town centre uses.
A range of retail, commercial and leisure uses come together to make a town centre. Establishing a mix of uses and activities in town centres helps to create a sense of place, character and identity and our planning policy is intended to be applied broadly, to the full range of these uses.
We are committed to:
- promoting distinct, competitive places and encouraging regeneration, in order to create town centres that are attractive to investors and suited to the generation of new employment opportunities;
- creating a climate that enables all sectors of the community to have access to a wide choice of shopping, leisure and other services and for gaps and deficiencies in provision to be remedied;
- improving the physical quality and sustainability of our town centre environments; and
- supporting development in existing accessible locations or in locations where accessibility can be improved.
Planning policy also requires planning authorities to consider retail provision within their area, to identify a network of centres, and to adopt a sequential approach to selecting sites for all retail and commercial uses. This focuses development in town centres wherever that is possible, recognising that town centres may not always be the best place to locate certain forms of retail and retail development.
In addition, Planning Advice Note 59 on improving town centres underlines their importance. It provides detailed advice on how planning authorities can safeguard and enhance them. It draws for this on examples of various approaches and actions in Scotland such as town centre health checks, town centre strategies and potential performance indicators. All of these, and many other approaches, can help to regenerate and grow our town centres and local high streets.