Aurora Spotlights – June 2018

Aurora Planning is now one year old, having celebrated our first birthday on the 13th of June!  We can’t believe how much has happened over the course of this year, and are very much looking forward to many more years ahead. In relation to which, read on below for our Spotlights marking the start of year two…

On Holyrood

The Transport (Scotland) Bill: While all planners’ eyes are obviously on the Planning Bill at the moment, it is not the only piece of interesting legislation currently going through the Scottish Parliament.  In particular, the Transport (Scotland) Bill (which was introduced on 8 June) covers a number of issues which affect our built environment, including proposals to provide Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) with more financial flexibility. This is particularly important given the role of RTPs in supporting the delivery of major regional transport infrastructure projects, which in turn facilitate the delivery of new development.   Projects of this nature can often take a number of years to implement, such that providing RTPs flexibility in their finances as they move from one accounting year to another can only be positive in terms of supporting future development.   A link to the Bill is available here, and we will follow progress on this with interest.

Right to buy abandoned neglected or detrimental land: Also of relevance to the built environment are provisions in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 which give community bodies a new right to acquire land which is abandoned, neglected or causing harm to the environmental wellbeing of their community. These will come into force on 27 June. Anecdotally, there seems to be a lot of interest in the potential for communities to use this new right to take forward community led regeneration projects, and we will be interested to see how this plays out on the ground.  Further information on the new right is available here.

The Planning (Scotland) Bill: Of course, we can’t forget about the Planning Bill, the Stage 1 debate on which took place on 29 May. While MSPs were generally supportive of the principles of the Bill, this was subject to a number of concerns about its robustness and amendments that would be required to make it fit for purpose, reflecting the points raised in the Stage 1 Report. Importantly there was cross-party recognition of the importance of planning to all our lives, something that we hope won’t be lost sight of as the Bill progresses through Stage 2.  The full report and minutes from the debate are available here.

On Westminster

Heathrow expansion: The proposed expansion of Heathrow airport is an example of where transport and planning can potentially be mutually supportive but at the same time can raise significant conflict, as well as being demonstrative of the lengthy process involved in planning for major infrastructure.  Almost 50 years after the Roskill Commission was established to look at a third airport for London, the Westminster Parliament backed controversial plans to build a third runway at Heathrow on 25 June.  There are strong arguments in favour of the development in terms of the economic benefits it will bring, including improving connectivity for Scotland.  Whilst arguments against are largely focussed on  impacts on the environment and the communities living in the local area. Parliament’s decision is not of course the end of the line for the new runway, and it will still require to go through the planning process.  But, even before that, there are already threats from local councils, the Mayor of London, Greenpeace and others of a legal challenge to the decision.  Objectors have six weeks in which to raise that challenge, so something to keep an eye on for the future.

On local government

Inverclyde Proposed Local Development Plan: The Proposed Plan was published here on 30 April for public consultation, with the closing date for comments being 29 June. So, if you want to make your views known, now is the time to do so

Meantime both Stirling Council and West Lothian Council are waiting for confirmation from Scottish Ministers that they can proceed to adopt their Local Development Plans, with the period of consultation on both having been extended to the end of this month. Decisions are therefore expected soon.

On planning applications

Hill of Rubislaw: Having submitted the planning application for 299 private rented sector flats, heritage bistro and new public walkway at Hill of Rubislaw earlier this year, it was encouraging that the Council’s planning officers this month recommended that the application be approved. This notwithstanding, Aberdeen City councillors decided to go against that recommendation and refuse the application at the Council’s Planning Development Management Committee meeting on 21 June. While obviously disappointed with this outcome, there were a lot of positive comments made by the committee members in relation to a number of aspects of the development, such as allowing for public access to the quarry and the provision of the heritage bistro, as well as the form of housing proposed, on the back of which our clients have made it clear that they are still firmly committed to investing in the City and will submit an appeal.

Meantime, on the benefits of private rented sector development in general, and how development of this nature can help create happier and healthier cities, the architects involved in the Hill of Rubislaw project have this month published an interesting blog which is worth a read (available here)!

Coul Links: Our February Spotlights indicated that a decision on the application for a new 18 hole golf course at Coul Links might be expected soon. Four months later, on 20 June, The Highland Council councillors voted to grant planning permission for this, going against the planning officer’s recommendation for refusal, citing the economic benefits that the course will bring to east Sutherland and the extensive mitigation measures that will be put in place to protect the environment.

It all goes to show that sometimes planning decisions go one way, sometimes they go the other!

On the courts

The fracking ban: In our May Spotlights we suggested that this was a decision to look out for and, on 19 June, that decision was issued. Essentially, this finds that previous Ministerial statements on the effectiveness of the fracking “ban” do not accurately reflect the legal position, which is that no such ban exists. All that there is at the moment is an emerging Scottish Government policy document expressing no support for any unconventional oil or gas development (UOGD), and a direction requiring all planning applications for UOGD to be notified to the Scottish Ministers (with the expectation that the application would then be “called in” to be determined by them). However, with the process of developing the Scottish Government’s policy still ongoing, the Outer House of the Court of Session concluded that the challenge to the “ban” was unfounded, such that the application for judicial review failed. The full decision is available here, and we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on what happens next.

On us

A highlight for us this month was, between us, chairing and speaking at JHPlanning’s conference on Community Asset Transfer and the implications of this for those involved in property, community planning and spatial planning. It was great to see a diverse audience from across the public, private and third sectors being so enthusiastic about the potential for community asset transfer to transform communities, and hear first hand how this is being done in practice, as well as how closer links between community planning and spatial planning can result in better outcomes for all involved.  And that, ultimately, is what we believe the purpose of planning to be.

And as time really does fly when you’re having fun, we also had to say goodbye to our intern Lisa Crossan, as her work experience with us came to an end.  In case you missed it though, she left us with a very interesting blog on why she wants to be a planner (even after a month with us!), which is available here.

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Finally, to find out about how we can assist you in any aspect of the planning process, please visit our website or email us at info@auroraplanning.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!

Pippa and Maggie

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