LPPS – FAQs  

  Can LPPs overlap?  

Yes – since communities themselves set the boundaries, there might be some overlap.  For example, a community council might do a plan for their ward, while a development trust might do a plan that covers that community council ward as well as several others. However, the needs of that community will still be the same so both should reflect similar things that the community within that CC ward want to see for their area. 

What’s important is that if plans overlap, community groups should work with each other, share information and preferably complement each other’s consultations.  Carrying out consultations well takes a lot of resources and time, and communities will not want to be consulted twice about the same thing.  So, groups should share consultation results and build on what has already been done. 

For example, if one group has already consulted, the other might look at the results and feel there’s no need to consult in that area.  On the other hand, they might want to expand the consultation e.g. by running some Focus Groups to enhance survey results.  

  What difference will an LPP make?  

The legislative requirement is that planning authorities should take registered plans into consideration when preparing the Local Development Plan.  This is their only statutory function.  However, they might also be classed as a “material consideration” when planning authorities determine planning applications that come in.    The legislation is new so there aren’t any examples yet to show how LPPs have been taken into consideration by planning authorities. 

Planning Aid Scotland have produced an information sheet explaining material considerations.

Will the local place plan affect day to day planning decisions? 

LPPs are primarily intended to influence future planning policy for an area - which is contained in the Development Plan. That policy is then the main consideration against which planning applications are determined, which is why it’s important to influence the Local Development Plan. Some planning authorities may also use Local Plan Plans as a ‘material consideration’ in assessing planning applications before they have updated their Local Development Plan, but there is no legal requirement for them to do so. 

Can a Local Place Plan be removed from the register?

Yes, but planning authorities can’t take a unilateral decision to remove a Local Place Plan once it has been registered.

Plans can be removed:

(a) if the community body which prepared the local place plan requests that the local place plan is removed from the register,

(b) if the community body which prepared the local place plan submits a subsequent local place plan which the community body state is to replace or supersede the local place plan.