Friends of the Earth Scotland - CEDA Project
The Executive offered Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) grant of £119,400 over 2003-06 (£40,000 in 2003-04, £39,480 in 2004-05 and £39,920 in 2005-06) for a Citizens' Environment Development and Advocacy (CEDA) project.
The purpose of the CEDA project was to make communities aware of local planning matters and become involved in the planning process - so they have a greater chance of exercising their rights and challenging proposals that may impact upon their local environment. The project aimed to focus on disadvantaged urban areas with an accumulation of environmentally damaging operations.
The CEDA project fitted well with the Executive's objectives for greater public involvement in the planning system, as outlined in our White Paper, Your Place, Your Plan, and the work of Planning Aid for Scotland.
In this project FoES responded to enquiries - the response ranging from advice on further reading to deeper involvement with a community.
There was assistance to the community in Greengairs, North Lanarkshire. Members of the community participated in a public local inquiry on an application by a company to infill an area which was previously opencast. FoES continued to work with Greengairs Environmental Forum and the Community Council.
There was work also in Govanhill, Glasgow (members of this community participated in the M74 inquiry and gained skills in networking and research), Uddingston, South Lanarkshire (the issue being the location of a planned solvent recycling facility), and Douglas, South Lanarkshire, where the community faced the possibility of opencast sites in the area.
At Bo'ness the community council gained a better understanding of the importance of contributing to the Local Plan process. There was help at Kirknewton (affected by a landfill site working without planning consent), and at Portobello assistance given to local groups at a public inquiry into a planning application for a superstore.
Enquiries dealt with during 2005 were about the spreading of fish wastes in the Uists, a quad bike track application in Uddingston, North Lanarkshire, sewage pollution on Blackness beach, West Lothian, and burning of waste on a caravan site in Loch Tummel.
FoEs gave advice on an application for a quarry access road near Glamis in Angus. There were a few inquiries about loss of greenbelt land, mainly planned for housing. There were complaints about an incident in Skelmorlie where, after exceptionally heavy rain, water run-off from Beithglass Quarry landfill site cascaded downhill causing damage to properties. This led to contact with Argyll and Bute Council and SEPA.
The biggest single number of enquiries in 2005 was about the application by First Group for a headquarters building in Aberdeen, the main concerns being about the loss of designated greenbelt and that the road links to the site were unsuitable for a large volume of traffic.
FoEs ran a capacity building training event for the Association of Community Councils in July 2003 in Newtongrange, Midlothian. This seminar considered basic guidelines on the handling of planning issues and the basis for an Association response to the consultation on the Edinburgh and Lothians Structure Plan 2015. The event was attended by community councillors from across Midlothian. There was a further capacity building seminar in Falkirk in September 2004 on negotiating the planning system and anticipated changes to the appeal system.
FoES arranged a one day seminar in September 2005. Jim MacKinnon, Chief Planner at the Scottish Executive, spoke on the proposed changes and the intentions behind the review of the planning system. Chris Norman, a planner from West Lothian Council, explained the implications of the Bill from a council perspective and John Stewart, Chairman of Portobello Civic Trust, spoke on what the anticipated changed might mean for the community.
There was a training session for a 5th year class of MEng engineers at Heriot-Watt University - on community participation and the expectations of the Planning White Paper on this.
Evaluation
FoES considered that the project was an overall success, with people becoming better equipped to engage with the planning process because of the information supplied through the project.
FoES dealt with 382 enquiries over the 3 years. Some resulted in developing a long-term relationship with the communities and individuals concerned, or involved training or site visits and on occasions representation at public local inquiries. There were visits to nearly 60 communities and participation in meetings, 3 all-day seminars on the new Planning Bill and its implications and 14 capacity building courses with Community Councils. There were more training sessions than originally anticipated.
The project helped over 360 groups and individuals to access the planning system, to be able to have their voices heard and to gain better understanding of how the Scottish planning system works and for some it enabled them to participate in consultation on the new Planning Bill and to press for changes within the current system.
It provided an advocacy service to groups and individuals from a wide geographical range from Scoraig in the north-west to Moray and Aberdeenshire in the east, Dumfries and Galloway in the south-west as well as groups all along the central belt.
The telephone advice service received calls about a wide range of topics from alleged breaches of tree preservation orders to major planning issues such as the proposals for an all-weather track at Musselburgh Racecourse, mobile phone masts, wind farms, illegal rubbish dumping and loss of greenspace.
FoES believe that the CEDA project highlighted the challenges that people have in participating in the planning system and that, rather than promoting sustainable development, communities can be left to oppose unsustainable development. This might be different if communities have the skills, knowledge and understanding of how to take advantage of planning reforms aimed at promoting sustainable development at an earlier opportunity.
Greengairs Community Council and Environmental Forum are now in the position of being able to contribute to the development of the Local Plan and are currently working on turning Greengairs 'Green" by pressing for affordable housing as well as Green Space, small workshop units for locals to use and traffic calming measures. They are also in talks about community involvement in a small wind turbine initiative.
The campaign group in Portobello opposing the superstore application stayed together and were in touch with the new owners of the site to put forward their own ideas of what they wanted to see on the site (including low cost starter homes, small retail units in keeping with the rest of the High Street and some green space inside the development). Individuals in the group also shared their experience of the planning system with groups elsewhere in Scotland.
FoES found that the CEDA project provided a valuable service that was much in demand, and that communities gained information that would stand them in good stead in the years to come.
Contact
Siobhan Samson
CEDA Project Manager
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Lamb's House
Burgess Street
Edinburgh
EH6 6RD
Telephone: 0131 554 9977
E-mail: info@foe-scotland.org.uk
Website: www.foe-scotland.org.uk