Local development planning guidance

Annex B: Local place plans and local development plans

Purpose

1. A local place plan (LPP) is a proposal by a community body about the development and use of land. LPPs aim to improve people's engagement and involvement in the planning system. They are a way for communities to achieve change in their local area by proactively feeding into development planning. They are a way for local communities to think about how to make their place better, agree priorities, and take action (often working with others) to make change happen.

2. This guidance is about the role and requirements of an LPP in the LDP preparation. It does not replace Planning Circular 1/2022: Local Place Plans which is provided more to support community bodies in the preparation of LPPs. The content of Circular 1/2022 may also be helpful for planning authorities, particularly in relation to validation and registration of LPPs submitted to them.

Legislative requirements

3. The relevant legislative requirements are included within the Act and The Town and Country Planning (Local Place Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (local place plan regulations). Details are set out below.

Invitation to prepare LPPs

Before preparing an LDP, a planning authority must invite local communities to prepare LPPs. - section 15A(a)

Planning authorities must also publish information about the manner in which LPPs are to be prepared and by when, so that they can be taken into account in the preparation of the LDP. - section 15A(b)(i)

Planning authorities must publish information about the assistance available to local communities to help them prepare LPPs. - section 15A(b)(ii)

Timing

Engagement on LPPs:

Community bodies are required to provide a minimum 28

day period for comments to be made on the LPP before it can be submitted to a planning authority. - local place plan regulations regulation 4(3)

It is anticipated that LPPs will be prepared, validated and registered in time to inform the Evidence Report because the Evidence Report must set out how communities have been invited to prepare LPPs and the assistance provided to them. - section 16B(3)(d)

Validation of LPPs

LPPs may not be registered if they are considered by the planning authority to not be valid. - schedule 19, 3(3)

Valid LPPs are those which comply with sections 1(4) and 2(1) of schedule 19, and regulation 5. - local place plans regulations regulation 5, schedule 19

Register of LPPs

Once an LPP has been validated by the planning authority, it must be kept on a register. - schedule 19(3)

A map must make available a map that shows the land to which registered LPPs relate. - schedule 19(4), local place plans regulations regulation 8

The Evidence Report must set out how communities have been invited to prepare LPPs and the assistance provided to them. - section 16B(3)(d)

Planning authorities are to take into account any registered LPP when they are preparing or amending an LDP. - section 16(2)(a)(iii)

Implementation

4. The way LPPs are used and their content will develop over time. In many circumstances they will be a means of providing a rich level of information coming from a basis of engagement and collaboration by community bodies. LPPs can be a means of bringing the National Planning Framework approach right down to the neighbourhood level and setting out a community's desire for change in relation to the current LDP spatial strategy.

Timing

5. The invitation to local communities to prepare an LPP must be published by the planning authority at the start of each plan preparation cycle.

6. The DPS sets out an authority's programme for preparing an LDP and can include the timing of the issuing of the LPP invitation, and the date by when LPPs are to be prepared.

7. To meet requirements for reporting on the invitation and assistance to prepare LPPs within the Evidence Report, it is suggested that the date by which LPPs should be prepared is timed to be in advance of the finalisation of the Evidence Report and in advance of the Gate Check. Whilst this focuses activity into the early phase of LDP preparation it means that the planning authority can properly consider all the information received through the LPPs.

8. When setting the date by when LPPs should be submitted, the planning authority can consider:

• the steps community bodies need to undertake to prepare a valid LPP, not least the 28 day period for comments;
• the time needed to validate and register LPPs; and
• that some LPPs may be found not to be valid and aspects may need to be revisited before re-submission.

9. The date by which LPPs are to be prepared is for information. LPPs have to be taken into account in the preparation of LDPs whenever they are registered.

10. The planning authority must provide information on the assistance available to local communities to prepare LPPs at the start of each plan preparation cycle.

11. Community bodies can prepare LPPs for their area at any time, including in advance of the invitation to do so. However they should be aware that outwith the timeframe provided by the planning authority in the invitation the assistance for the preparation of them may not be available and the opportunity to be taken into account in preparing the LDP will diminish as work to prepare the plan progresses.

Invitation

12. In its simplest form the invitation can be a formal marker that the planning authority is ready to receive LPPs.

13. Planning authorities may want to include in, or signpost in, the invitation other information they are required to publish at the start of the development plan cycle in any case:

• the manner in which LPPs are to be prepared;
• the date by which LPPs are to be prepared in order to be taken into account in the preparation of the LDP; and
• assistance available for the preparation of LPPs.

Manner of preparation

14. As there are some required processes and elements of LPPs, signposting to Circular 1/2022: Local Place Plans may be sufficient as an initial steer to community bodies.

15. In time, signposting to examples of LPPs may also be useful.

16. If there are particular ways in which the planning authority can best receive LPPs on submission (electronic file size or type for example), they can usefully be identified.

Assistance

17. Planning authorities are required to publish information on the assistance available for local communities to prepare LPPs. The assistance to be made available is not defined in legislation, and it is expected that this would not necessarily depend on local / National Park authority support but can extend to wider programmes. It is likely to be helpful if planning authorities could offer assistance by signposting community bodies to:

• guides and further information about the preparation of LPPs. Such information, including a LPP 'how to' guide is already available online including at the Our Place website;
• any funds or resources from other organisations available to support programmes like LPPs where the authority is aware of such available resources;
• other information and resources that may be applicable. The information and resources needed to prepare a LPP are not unique or always specialised meaning there may be opportunities for linking with established practices, Planning Circular 1/2022 'Local Place Plans' refers to Locality Plans for example;
• tools including:

- the Place Standard which community bodies could use to support conversations about their place, it offers a structure for groups to think about the physical elements of a place (for example its buildings, spaces, and transport links) as well as the social aspects;

- Understanding Scotland's Places – which is a tool that can help towns communities better understand the function of the towns they live and work in;

- The Town Toolkit which has been developed by Scotland's Towns Partnership, as a source of information and inspiration for anyone who wants to make their town centre better;

- the Talking About Heritage guidance – prepared by Historic Environment Scotland to support communities as they research, identify and gain recognition for the heritage they care about. It includes a section on LPPs and other ways of sharing information about and celebrating locally important heritage; and / or

• established networks.

18. Rural and island communities and authorities may face particular challenges in preparing LPPs due to practicalities reaching remote rural and island communities. However these areas may also have established networks and approaches that can be deployed to assist overcoming those challenges.

Evidence Report

19. Within the Evidence Report, LPPs can be a means of linking the very local aspirations to more strategic issues and opportunities across the plan area helping to provide a 'bigger picture' basis to the local aspirations.

20. It may be helpful for the planning authority to provide details of registered LPPs in their Evidence Report.

Proposed Plan

21. LPPs will be an important resource for preparing LDP spatial strategies. This will look different across different authorities and LPPs, with some LPPs perhaps being more descriptive, and others being more site specific, map or delivery focused and so being capable of being accounted for in different ways in the preparation of the LDP. Whatever their format and content they will be an invaluable resource in preparing the spatial strategy for their Proposed Plan.

22. The Act provides at Schedule 19 that LPPs may be used by a community body to identify any land or buildings of particular significance to the local area. Any such land or buildings must be included on a map within the LPP. Recognition in this way can afford status to land and buildings that may not be designated, but nevertheless perform important functions within the social, cultural or economic life of a community. This information can help planning authorities to understand and consider places of community value as they develop their spatial strategies.

23. Community bodies do not need to resubmit their registered LPPs if the planning authority opens a 'call for ideas' after the Evidence Report stage because the registered LPPs will be considered by the planning authority in the preparation of the Proposed Plan.

24. Given that LPPs are prepared by community bodies, it is perhaps unlikely that there would be overlapping LPPs prepared by different community bodies that contain conflicting proposals. However, the planning authority will consider the different LPPs with an open mind to understand how the various proposals may help support the LDP's spatial strategy.

25. The weight given to elements within a LPP is for the planning authority to decide in preparing the proposed LDP. It is the elements from the LPPs that are clearly spatial or about development that can be most influential for the preparation of the LDP spatial strategy.

26. There could be other community-led plans within planning authority areas which do not comply with the new LPP legal requirements but nonetheless provide a community vision for the development and use of land. Should such community-led plans be submitted to the planning authority, the planning authority may give them due weight as expressions of the community's aspiration.

27. Planning authorities should be clear in their reasoning for supporting or not supporting elements of LPPs in the spatial strategy. Planning authorities may wish to address this in their Committee Report on the Proposed Plan.

28. A community body may choose to use the content of their LPP to respond to the proposed plan consultation. Whether the LPP is registered or not the response should be treated in the same way as all other responses to the Proposed Plan.

Responsibilities

29. LPPs are prepared by community bodies. The planning authority is to publish information on the assistance available for local communities to prepare LPPs.

30. Planning authorities are responsible for validation and registration of LPPs. Further guidance is given in Circular 1/2022. Planning authorities are to take into account registered LPPs in preparing the LDP.

Bigger picture

31. The National Performance Framework includes the outcome that 'people live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe'. It recognises that communities are shaped by the quality and character of the places we live in and the people we live among. Communities are well placed to express their aspirations for the future of their local places.

32. LPPs offer the opportunity for a community-led, but collaborative, approach to creating great local places. LPPs can support community aspirations on the big challenges such as responding to the global climate emergency and tackling inequalities.

33. It is vital that local people have the opportunity to engage meaningfully, in a way that is accessible to them and that is cognisant of equalities duties and duties of the Planning act including for disabled people, children and young people and Gypsies / Travellers, and have a positive influence in the future planning of development in their areas.

34. In the future Evidence Reports and publicly available data sets may assist communities in responding to the issues in their area.