Local people know their places best. That sounds like an obvious statement, but planning has historically been “done to” communities, rather than been led by communities. Community-led planning is all about local people and community groups taking the lead on planning how amenities, services, social activities, opportunities for employment or education, connectivity, projects to tackle climate change and improve biodiversity, health and wellbeing facilities, access to natural spaces, the use of land and buildings and more can best work together to improve our places.

Sometimes this process is referred to as “Placemaking”, but following feedback from community groups leading on plans for their local area, we have chosen to refer to it as “Community-led Planning” – it does what it says on the tin! 

Is this a new thing? 

No! Communities have been developing community-led plans for their areas for a long time, often referred to as Community Action Plans. Essentially these set out a programme of community-delivered projects, often to inform the use of a funding stream such as renewable energy community-benefit payments. They are often undertaken by a Development Trust to determine their community mandate for action. They may also include community aspirations for public service provision, intended to influence Community Planning Partnership plans (Locality Plans and the Community Plan) under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

What is new is that community-led plans have now been given a mechanism for registration with the Local Authority (in our case, Scottish Borders Council) through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 by communities being invited to register Local Place Plans.

Local Place Plans

The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced Local Place Plans, although they weren’t officially launched until January 2022. 

These are primarily intended to set out community aspirations for the use of land and buildings, and so to inform the Local Development Plan. Once registered with the local planning authority (Scottish Borders Council) they form a “material consideration” in planning applications. 

Do we need a Community Action Plan and a Local Place Plan then?

Not unless you want to! You can have one plan which covers both community action and spatial planning or you can stick with a Community Action Plan.  It’s your choice. 

A Community Action Plan can be presented in a way which is eligible for registration as Local Place Plan, by mapping projects spatially and showing regard for other relevant plans. A registered Local Place Plan can be used to indicate sites of community value, can influence the Local Development Plan and can form a material consideration in planning applications. It will take more time and effort to produce an eligible Local Place Plan, but it is worth considering for your community.