A Fife Council-led survey has revealed wide-spread support for an overhaul of the Scottish planning system to aid development planning and future housing delivery among local people, communities and businesses.

The council wrote to the Scottish Government calling for a review of Scottish Planning Law earlier in the year, and Alex Neil MSP, cabinet secretary for social justice, communities and pensioners’ rights is conducting a consultation to improve development planning. As well as providing written evidence, Fife Council has asked to be invited to provide oral evidence to the Independent Panel set up to carry out the review.

To kick start the debate on how the planning process should be developed, Fife Council carried out its ‘Your Place, Your Views’ survey to enable local people and businesses to engage in the process and voice their views on the future of planning.

Launched ahead of the government’s review, Fife Council’s survey, which ran from 10 September to 23 October 2015, attracted over 260 submissions. Published in a new report, key results include:

Cllr Lesley Laird, depute leader and spokesperson economy and planning, said: “I would like to thank all the people and organisations who took part in the survey.

“Reform of the development planning system is much-needed, and this is widely supported in Fife. Our aim is to make the Kingdom a great place for people, communities and businesses, and to do this we need to deliver a planning service that meets local needs. We are making a strong case to the Government’s planning review panel and have asked to be invited to provide oral evidence, so that we can expand on these points and reflect the views of the wider community.

“An effective planning system must also better embrace economic development and regeneration, to ensure that Fife plays a key part in the Scottish economy. Future developments should also be sustainable and supported by local people.”

The survey findings reveal strong support for the role of place-making, with less emphasis on the delivery of targets for housing and employment land, so that towns and villages are well-served with amenities and infrastructure. Respondents are seeking to move away from what is seen as simply meeting targets in favour of promoting the right type and scale of development in the right place.

Respondents back more local democracy for planning decisions, and comments suggest that there is potential to develop closer partnerships between Fife Council and community organisations.

Survey respondents also support the idea of incentives being made available to assist in the re-development of town centres and brownfield sites in urban areas, and making funds available to provide community services, which are repaid at the end of the development.

Many comments express a perception that the planning system is currently developer-led, with the bias towards development against communities. There are also wide-ranging comments around simplifying the current system.

The feedback has been submitted as part of the Council’s response to the national Scottish Government consultation on planning policy and procedures. The survey results will also be used by Fife Council to help improve planning processes. The report is available on Fife Direct at www.fifedirect.org.uk/yourplace.

Cllr Laird added: “While I welcome this review of the planning system I am concerned about the timescales of the consultation. It is also unclear, at this time, whether sufficient account taken will be taken of other core elements that must play into an effective planning system. For example, economic strategy, community and town centre regeneration, infrastructure delivery, as well as a skilled workforce and access to affordable finance.

“Unless the review fully examines these elements, and their pivotal role in unlocking development delivery on the ground, then I fear we may just end up with a more centralising, target-led approach pushing house building numbers. As our survey shows, this is not what people want, and this is not what Fife or its communities need.”

The next steps for the review are for the Independent Panel to consider evidence before reporting to Scottish ministers in Spring 2016. Scottish Ministers will then respond to recommendations.

@FifeCouncil