Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods - planning guidance: final impact assessment report update

Introduction

Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods

This impact assessment report update relates to the Scottish Government Planning Guidance: Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods which was produced to support the implementation of the policy framework within the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4).

Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods are included within the policy framework of NPF4, adopted by Scottish Ministers on 13 February 2023. The concept of local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods is intended to support places where people can meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home, preferably through active travel modes or by public transport.

NPF4 was the subject of extensive consultation and parliamentary scrutiny and an Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA), involving a number of statutory and non-statutory assessments, was prepared for NPF4 and is available on the Transforming Planning website. An IIA Post Adoption Statement for NPF4 is available to provide further context.

The policy intent and policy outcomes for local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods were included within the NPF4 assessment process. Therefore, the impact of the policy has already been assessed and this updated report summarises key content relevant to local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods gathered as part of the previous impact assessment process. Additional content on the impacts of the guidance has been added where relevant and/or necessary.

Consultation

A public consultation on the Local living and 20 minute neighbourhood: Draft Planning Guidance ran between 27 April and 20 July 2023. It set out 10 consultation questions and aimed to gather a broad range of public and stakeholder views on each element of the guidance including on the impact assessment report update. In total, 615 responses were received from 509 individuals and 106 organisations.

In brief, some of the issues raised across the consultation are summarised below;

• requests for more detail or examples to expand on the guidance and to help its use in practice, addressing the diverse nature of neighbourhoods and overcoming challenges in placemaking initiatives
• calls to address accessibility of the document through a simplification of language, removal of jargon and repetition, including clarity around who the guidance was intended to be used by
• the need for investment in robust infrastructure, particularly transport, healthcare, education, and leisure
• concerns around the resources and funding for delivery, particularly planning teams and teams supporting communities combined with pressurised local authority budgets
• the requirement for the guidance to detail a greater alignment with relevant policies, strategies, frameworks, and investments in order bolster local living

Question 9 of the consultation specifically asked respondents for their views on the impact assessment update report including updates to the Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA), the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) and the Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA). The answers are summarised as follows:

• the EQIA did not sufficiently address the needs of those with protected characteristics, particularly those with disabilities or older people
• respondents called for greater emphasis on how the experience of those with protected characteristics, in navigating local spaces and accessing relevant facilities and services, should be involved in decision-making
• that there was disparity between the capacity of communities and the resources available to them to enable communities to drive change, which was not reflected in the guidance. There was a call for community capacity building to strengthen community empowerment
• recommendations that the guidance should be strengthened in relation to the importance of accessible transport and accessible housing
• suggestions that health inequalities could be better referenced as well as the benefits of a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) approach when considering the impacts on different groups
• the need to highlight that digital access to services should be available as a choice rather than the only available option and that digital literacy or access to IT equipment should be assumed
• the BRIA should recognise that implementation of the guidance and the additional work associated with NPF4 delivery, including LDP preparation could add complexity to the planning system and will have additional resource implications for planning authorities
• comments on the ICIA suggested the assessment covered issues associated with 20 minute neighbourhoods in such locations but the guidance itself could better reflect the infrastructure challenges and tendency towards centralisation in rural areas

The findings of the consultation analysis, including the comments pertaining to the impact assessment update report have been used to update the report and amend and finalise the guidance accordingly.