12 August 2015
Innovative approach short-listed for prestigious planning award
Head of Planning to share learnings on community involvement at national planning forum
A plan outlining proposals for the development of housing, recreation, tourism and supporting infrastructure in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park over the next 10 years has passed another milestone following a final consultation which ended in June.
‘LIVE Park’ is all about planning for future development of the National Park and this vision was set out in the Park Authority’s Proposed Local Development Plan published in May for consideration by interested parties.
The response, according to the Park Authority’s Head of Planning and Rural Development, has been very encouraging.
Stuart Mearns said: “We would like to thank everyone in our local communities who took the trouble to consider these proposals and respond, whether online, in National Park offices, or by attending local events.
“The consultation closed at the end of June and we are really pleased with the level of responses. Our aim with LIVE Park was to develop a Plan that meets the aspirations of our communities and helps the Park to flourish.
“Having invested a lot of time in working with our communities, businesses and partner organisations we are delighted that we have got the big issues right. This includes identifying key locations for future development, how to balance development needs with safeguarding the natural heritage of the Park and how we support business and community development with reasonable and flexible planning policies.
“The relatively low number of objections we received is testament to the approach we took with issues being addressed early on in the process. We received 140 responses in total with the majority of these relating to proposed development in a small number of towns and villages, particularly Callander and Drymen.
During the process, the National Park worked with pupils from nearby secondary schools, Hermitage Academy, Helensburgh, Balfron High and McLaren High in Callander. Stuart explained:
“A particular highlight for the team was following up last year’s work with pupils to show how their aspirations had been reflected in our new plan. It was great to see pupils really taking an interest in planning matters using an interactive game to suggest where new developments should go and then comparing their proposals with our own. We definitely spotted a couple of planners in the making!”
The Proposed Plan was developed following an intensive four-year process and the latest draft incorporating final representation from members of the public will be taken to a meeting of the National Park Authority’s board before being submitted to the Scottish Government who will undertake independent assessment of the representations.
For regular progress on the Proposed Plan, follow the LIVE Park blog www.ourlivepark.com/blog
Ends
Note to editors
Stuart Mearns will share key learnings from LIVE Park at the National Development Plan Forum in Edinburgh on August 14.
The innovative LIVE Park project has been short-listed in the Community Involvement category for the 2015 Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning. An outline of the submission will be published on Wednesday, August 12 at http://scotgovplanningarchitecture.com/
Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park is the ‘Planning Authority’ that makes planning decisions about future development in the National Park area.
The ‘LIVE Park’ Local Development Plan aims to make Loch Lomond & The Trossachs a better place to:
- Live
- Invest
- Visit and
- Experience
From 2011, the National Park Authority worked with local communities across the Park through a series of design workshops (‘charrettes’) that aimed to bring the relevant organisations (roads, education, house builders) together with the local community to help work through the key issues and opportunities facing the Park and its people.
National Park Planners used innovative techniques including a Lego competition and ‘visioning’ workshops to encourage more working-age families and young people to get involved in the process.
A dedicated website and social media channels to support it were developed to allow people to keep up to date with progress on the Plan:
Recognising that Planning can sometimes be a daunting area to get involved in, the Park Authority created a series of short YouTube films to help ‘demystify planning’ and explain the proposed development in the LIVE Park Main Issues Report to life:
For further information, contact Ruth Crosbie, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park PR & Media Manager (Mon-Wed) on 01389 722120 or at ruth.crosbie@lochlomond-trossachs.org
Or Nancy McLardie, LL&TTNP PR & Media Manager (Thurs/Fri) on 01389 722016 or at nancy.mclardie@lochlomond-trossachs.org