Executive Summary
The Scottish Government, with the support of Scottish Futures Trust, have established a Planning, Infrastructure and Place Advisory Group (PIPAG) as a crucial element to supporting the implementation of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).
PIPAG comprises a core advisory group of experts, supported by a range of organisations that provide a wealth of experience and skills through a reference group. The strategic purpose of PIPAG is to support joined-up, timeous, place-based delivery of development and infrastructure in Scotland, based on best evidence, in order to achieve Scotland’s ambitions for a wellbeing economy.
This report provides a summary of the Year 1 activities and outputs (see Table 1) of PIPAG, informing relevant Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers of activities and progress against the group’s strategic objectives, as well as informing Scottish Government groups, wider stakeholders and the public.
Table 1 : Summary of PIPAG Year 1 outputs
| Output |
Output Description |
| Case Studies |
- Case studies produced on each Place Review and/or learning event, which champion good practice and make recommendations for more widely applicable solutions to explore.
- The case studies are presented in Appendix B and include:
- B.1. Winchburgh
- B.2. Town Centres
- B.3 Energy Networks
- B.4. Rural Housing
- B.5. Vacant and Derelict Land
- Key learnings and common themes from these case studies have been summarised within this annual report. These represent a snapshot in time, therefore it is likely that further progress has been made in the months since capture.
|
| Learning activities |
- Write-up of other learning activities, including the presentation from Scottish Power Energy Network (SPEN) on net zero energy infrastructure strategic challenges.
|
| PIPAG meeting minutes |
- Meeting minutes were prepared for each Advisory Group meeting including actions for the Secretariat and the establishment of a short life working group where value could be added.
|
| Short Life Working Groups (SLWG) |
- A Short Life Working Group (SLWG) was established to undertake a deep dive into issues of funding and finance, exploring approaches and mechanisms to financial risk (and return) sharing in planning and development. A summary note was produced making conclusions and recommendations.
|
| Further meetings on specific opportunity/challenge areas |
- These further meetings included:
- a meeting of core advisory group members and key Scottish Government officials and external representatives, to explore opportunities and challenges around data quality and availability; and,
- an initial exploration of how to capture and promote place good practice, with future action anticipated in 2025.
|
| Annual Report |
This report which summarises the above activity, particularly progress against strategic objectives and key learnings and common themes from the case studies and further learning activities. |
A short summary of the key learnings and common themes is provided in the table below.
Table 2 : Summary of Emerging Themes (PIPAG Year 1)
| Area |
Emerging Themes |
| Case for public investment |
- The need to develop a strong case for public investment which is supported by quality, accessible data informing local needs assessment and robust options appraisal.
|
| Case for public investment |
- The importance of the options appraisal methodology to provide a comprehensive assessment of the full range of options (e.g. re-use or alternative use options for VDL; improved data access and use; more consistent place appraisal) to support prioritisation and alignment on investment decisions.
|
| Capacity Building |
- Developing local capacity, maturing community anchor organisations (e.g. Community Development Trusts), and establishing effective governance takes time and often requires resilient volunteer leaders.
- Short-term, competitive funding rounds (often for capital-only funding) often reduce the ability of communities to commit the initial outlay to support community capacity building.
- The initial outlay to support community capacity is often relatively small to achieve long-term action. To ensure adaptability and resilience, the community should be engaged in identifying the optimal interventions at an early stage.
|
| Coordination |
- Collaboration is required to ensure alignment on the vision, outcomes and spatial priorities.
- The importance of engaging all levels in infrastructure projects from local, regional and national level. Buy in and accountability are important considerations in coordinating this engagement.
- Creating a legacy for large scale developments on the areas within which they are located is important.
|
| Planning tools |
- Planning tools such as Development Frameworks and Masterplan Consent Areas (MCAs) have potential to bring together or align consenting processes.
|
| Risk (and return) sharing |
- There is the potential to further consider the application of a risk (and return) sharing approach to other sites across Scotland, based on the critical success factors and key learning points identified by the Winchburgh SLWG.
|
| Alternative funding & finance |
- Winchburgh used as a key case study to explore innovative infrastructure funding and finance solutions.
- A highly collaborative and innovative financing approach, through a Tripartite agreement between Scottish Government, WDL and West Lothian Council (WLC).
- A first-of-its-kind funding mechanism developed to be paid back through developer contributions and underwritten by guarantees from The Scottish Government and Winchburgh Developments Ltd.
|
