The Scottish Government offered Planning Aid for Scotland (PAS) grant of £59,212 for the Planning for People programme. This continued in 2007-08 free independent and impartial advice on land use planning - with volunteer qualified planners - to help community groups and voluntary organisations understand the planning system and how it affects their environment. The project supported the Scottish Government commitment to public participation outlined in "Your Place, Your Plan"; it also supported and promoted environmental justice by helping people participate in decisions affecting their day-to-day lives.
Participants in workshops gained a better understanding of how the planning system works and how they can use their local knowledge to work with the planning professionals to improve their area and participate effectively in planning. The workshops were a mix of presentations and interactive sessions to appeal to a diverse audience.
Most of the participants were aware of the new Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 and wanted to know how this would affect them. PAS took the opportunity to inform people of the reforms and changes and updated presentations regularly to cover new legislation or other information relevant to the groups. PAS included PAN81 "Community engagement - Planning with People" in participant packs and used it to stress the new emphasis on effective public participation in planning.
Some of the workshops were provided in "areas of change" or where there was a significant development causing concern to local residents. One event was held was in Nairn, where proposed developments were causing some local concern. The workshop helped to ease tension and focus people's attention on options open to them, helping them to understand the planning process and how they could use their local knowledge to influence the plans for the area.
For the first time the programme was part of The Participant, a one day event held in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage and the Royal Town Planning Institute. This brought together people engaged in a wide range of environmental and regeneration projects from around Scotland. The PAS workshop helped these groups to understand the importance of the planning system on land use in Scotland.
In previous years the majority of requests for training came from local authority planning departments. During this year PAS had requests from other local authority departments such as Regeneration or Community Planning, and from the National Parks authorities. Often initial requests for workshops came from individuals, through casework, community councils, neighbourhood organisations and a "friends" scheme. There were also requests or enquiries from other organisations - such as the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman's Office who asked for training for their inspectors, and the Federation of Small Businesses who wanted training for their members.
During the year PAS delivered 18 events - 15 full day workshops and 3 half day workshops. Places where Planning for People training events were held during the year were Selkirk, Aberdeen, Linlithgow, Partick in Glasgow, Nairn, Newtongrange, Edinburgh, Ratho, Cumbernauld, Haddington, Saline in Fife, Dunoon, Boat of Garten, Ballater and Kirkcaldy.
Those taking part felt they had a much better understanding of the planning powers and responsibilities of the Scottish Government and local authorities, the types of national planning documents and their importance, the meaning of the term "development plan," and the role and importance of structure plans and local plans. They felt they had the skills to participate effectively in the planning system, and were aware of the importance of early community involvement in the planning process.
There was clear evidence that participants gained significant knowledge from attending the Planning for People workshops, which therefore made a significant contribution to the capacity building required to enable communities to make informed choices about planning.
Contact
Planning Aid for Scotland
11a South Charlotte Street
Edinburgh EH2 4AS
www.planningaidscotland.org.uk
E-mail: office@planningaidscotland.org.uk