A charitable trust which will help young people across Scotland engage more positively with the places they live and work in to help create successful communities for the future launched last week at an event in Edinburgh.

The PAS Foundation has been established to specifically support children and young people’s learning on issues surrounding planning, architecture, the built environment and climate change. The Foundation also aims to help build active citizenship, inspire entrepreneurship and to find ways to promote knowledge and education about how young people can get involved in place making.

The launch was marked by a host of impressive speakers including former first minister Henry McLeish; founder of Macdonald Estates and the Scottish Property Federation, Dan Macdonald; Dr Deborah Benson from Leaders in Leadership and Nicola Barclay director at Homes for Scotland.

Chief executive of PAS, Petra Biberbach, said: “For the last twenty years PAS has helped people across Scotland engage more positively with the places in which they live and work. The establishment of a separate charity to harness philanthropic giving is a natural next step for PAS and we are delighted that the Foundation will enable us to build on the work we already do.

“We know that all too often young people in particular are unaware of the decision-making process, unable to access information in a fair, balanced and reasonable way and know too little about the opportunities for involvement in shaping places for the future.

“Many developers now want better and more engaged dialogue with communities, and vice versa. The PAS Foundation will harness that goodwill from developers to enable us to deliver all our programmes for young people free of charge.”

PAS already provides a wide range of services – from a free planning advice and mentoring service, to tailored training and public participation events catering for members of the public, planning professionals, local authorities, elected members, community councils and for those simply interested in how they can help shape their environment.