Community councils play an important role in the planning and development control process. They monitor planning applications in their area and make representations to the planning authority with respect to them. They are the most systematically organised of community groups in terms of their ability to represent community interests in the planning process because of their statutory rights to be informed of development proposals and to make representations about them. While their representations may on occasion be unsuccessful they often influence decisions in such a way as to secure improvements in the final approved version of the application. On occasion, too, they are unsuccessful in influencing a decision and may sometimes feel aggrieved about the outcome.
One intention of the new planning arrangements is to move from a culture of automatic objections to one of considered representations. The Association of Scottish Community Councils welcomes the greater emphasis in the new arrangements on pre-application consultation by developers. While this happens to some degree at present a more general resort to early consultation over planning and development applications by developers with community councils should enable an accommodation of interests to be reached at an earlier stage of the process. However, community councils which are unhappy with the proposals, may well continue to make vigorous representations through all stages of the process.
Enhancing the community input into planning
Those concerned to enhance the role of communities in the planning process need look no further than in the direction of community councils. In the one fifth of Scotland where they do not exist an ‘off the shelf kit’ to establish one is to be found in the local authority’s community council scheme. Where they do exist they are the only community organisations that can claim to be constituted by an open process of public nomination, accountable to the local community. They conduct their business in public on behalf of the local community and are subject to regular processes of re-election.
Some community councillors are very knowledgeable and skilled in development control and planning matters. Some local authorities already provide training in such matters for community councillors. But wider provision of training for community councillors in the new arrangements for planning and development control, and a more general encouragement of community councils, would greatly enhance the capacity of local communities to participate in a constructive and informed manner in the new planning and development control system.
Extract from a speech at the Holyrood conference on 'Taking Stock: Scotland's Planning System in 2008', 16 June 2008, Edinburgh. www.holyrood.com
