What you need to know
What are Local Place Plans?
Local Place Plans are a new type of plan giving people an opportunity to develop proposals for the development and use of land in the place where they live.
They are “spatial” plans – which just means they set out what activities and development communities think could happen within the places in their area, and where. The right for communities to produce Local Place Plans was a part of the Scottish Government reforms to the planning system and they were an important part of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.
Development means things like what housing can be built, what other facilities might be needed alongside it, where industrial activities like factories and business units should be based, where shops or shopping centres should be and where there should be areas set aside for community or leisure use like woodlands, parks and sports facilities.
Local Place Plans are a way for communities to have more influence over what development can happen in their area. Once registered with your local planning authority, they will be taken into consideration when they create their next Local Development Plan. Local Development Plans help to guide decisions on planning applications and communities could also refer to their Local Place Plan when stating their support, or opposition, to planning proposals.
How Local Place Plans are developed
LPPs should be put together by the community. Groups developing a plan should run community consultation exercises to involve local people in discussions about their place, including :
what places are important to them
what future development would help create a vibrant thriving community
how to help everyone in the community get easy access to local facilities
how people move about the area and make use of shared spaces
any actions that need to be taken to adapt the area to climate change and extreme weather incidents.
Local Place Plans can be developed by a wide range of community groups, including community councils.
What Local Place Plans must be
Local Place Plans must:
be developed through consultation with the local community
include a statement describing the area the plan covers and a map that shows it
consider other plans and policies affecting the area including the Local Council’s existing Local Development Plan for the area, the Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework 4 and the Community Planning Partnership’s Locality Plan if there is one
be shared for comment with local councillors who represent the area the plan covers
be shared for comment with community councils within the area the plan covers and with all the neighbouring community councils.
There is no statutory obligation to share your plan with MPs or MSPs, but if you think it appropriate, you may wish to circulate the final plan to them for information.
You can suggest changes to the existing Local Development Plan for your area, but you must give reasons for the proposed changes.
Your local planning department may have useful information and resources to help you prepare your plan – just search online for the name of the Council or National Park and “local place plans”.
Once you have completed your plan, you should send it to the local planning department. They will check that you have met all the legal requirements and then let you know either that the plan has now been “registered”, or whether there is anything you still have to do, to enable them to add it to the register.