A Local Place Plan is a new type of community-led plan, introduced by Section 14 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. This gives communities the opportunity to come up with proposals for the development and use of land in their local area. Communities will work with others to reach a shared view on how the area should change in the future.
Local Place Plans relate to development and the use of land. Examples of the issues that they might address include:
- proposals for new homes (including affordable), local employment, tourism or community facilities
- sites which help support new renewable energy projects, or climate change adaptation measures, such as flood mitigation
- improvements to town and neighbourhood centres
- improvements to open space, play facilities and active travel
- conservation of the natural and built environment
- land for community food growing
They are not the likely to be the best way to seek improvements to services except where this would be connected to the development or long-term use of land or buildings.
Important issues to consider are:
- Do you have a constituted “community body” to prepare the Local Place Plan? Local Place Plans must be prepared by a Community Council or a ‘community-controlled body’ (as defined by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015). If you are unsure, we can help to advise what qualifies under these definitions.
- Do you have enough resources to develop your plan?
- Do you need to think about funding, volunteer and staff capacity, equipment, for example?
- Preparing a Local Place Plan may be a large commitment in terms of time, effort and resources
- Preparing a plan could take a year or more to prepare.
- Costs will vary depending on the approach taken, the size of the community and also the complexity of the plan
- Local Place Plans will not, in themselves, mean that change will happen. Communities will need to be realistic when preparing plans about available resources. They need to think about the relationship of proposals to wider plans and strategies, as well as issues such as land ownership.
- A researched Local Place Plan would be a strong influence on a Local Development Plan. However, you should be aware that there is no requirement for the Local Development Plans to follow the design or recommendation of a Local Place Plan. There may be other factors that the Council need to consider which could stop this from being an option.
- Local Place Plans are intended to be a means of promoting positive change. They could not be used to halt a development proposal that already has planning permission.
What alternatives might a community want to consider instead of a Local Place Plan?
A Local Place Plan is not always the best approach towards the change you want to see. You may wish to consider whether any of the following would be more suitable:
- Getting involved in Fife Council consultations on plans, strategies or projects. The Fife Planning Update e-newsletter will keep you informed about forthcoming consultations on the Local Development Plan. You can find out about other Council Consultations online.
- Getting involved in the community planning process. Here is a link to Fife's Local Community Plans.
- Producing a less formal community action plan. Such plans would not have to follow the legal requirements that apply to Local Place Plans, and would be able to address issues that don’t relate to development and the use or development of land. These could still be used to inform the Local Development Plan where relevant.
- Participation Requests - Community groups can make requests to become involved in planning improvements to public services by submitting a ‘participation request’. Participation requests are designed to help groups highlight community needs and issues and to become directly involved in change or improvement. They are designed to build on existing good quality community engagement and participation processes, not replace them. They should also not be used as a way of submitting complaints.
- Communities may wish to consider acquiring, leasing or taking over management of publicly owned buildings or land through Community Asset Transfer.