Scottish Government

Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning 2003

Application form

This application form can either be completed by hand or electronically (pdf version) on the Planning homepage at www.scotland.gov.uk/planning . Please complete all four questions. The deadline is 12 September 2003. An acknowledgement letter will be sent to the person who has completed this form.

Please provide a name and contact details of the organisation responsible for this work. If partners were involved, identify the lead organisation, and then list the other partners/bodies who had a key role.

Name of key partners (if appropriate)

Please complete the form by providing a brief summary (in no more than the space provided) of the piece of work you have entered. You must also conclude, with a key reason, as to why you think this work merits an Award.

Please tick the key criteria which relate to this entry:

You must describe in your written submission (below) how the criteria which you have ticked relates to your project.

Description of project

The Clackmannanshire and Stirling Structure Plan proposes a new village of 2500 houses in the south east of Stirling. This nomination relates to the consultation exercise undertaken within that area during the autumn of 2002. The nomination covers the publicity, consultation and reporting back on the findings of the exercise.

The consultation exercise included:

• Development and publication of an easy read leaflet
• Mailshot to 10 000 households (all communities within and neighbouring the potential development area.)
• MaiIshot to the 1300 members of Stirlings' citizens panel
• Use of local libraries, Community Councils, Community workers, Area forums to increase awareness
• 6 x public exhibitions using display boards, planning for real and innovative use of technology to present the development options in a way that was as easy as possible for people to understand.

Timescale (over which the project has developed)

The consultation exercise was prepared over a 2-month period and ran between October 2002 and December 2002. The results and findings were reported back to interested people and the Council in March 2003.

Context (the problem which had to be addressed)

The proposal to build a new village of 2500 new homes with associated facilities in the eastern area of Stirling is controversial. The eastern area of Stirling includes the three villages ot Cowie, Fallin and Plean, all of which suffer from some deprivation. Traditionally it has proven difficult to get local people to engage with the development plan process; few turn out to public meetings or respond to surveys.

Stirling Council is strongly committed to local democracy and engaging communities and was keen to make sure that early consultation on the emerging options for this new village were carried out in a way that was meaningful and meant that as many people as possible could understand the proposals and get engaged with the process.

The Council is also committed to ensuring that this development is Development Plan led and a local plan alteration is being prepared to bring this proposal forward. The consultation exercise was undertaken to inform the local plan alteration and give people an opportunity to understand and engage with the proposal prior to their formalisation through the local plan.

Action taken

The Policy Planning team worked hard to develop a consultation exercise that would give as many people as possible an understanding of the proposals, the opportunity to see what was involved and give whatever comments they wanted to. The team pulled on years of professional experience of planning related consultation and also used technology to produce an exhibition that was both eye catching and extremely informative.

Prospective developers were asked to submit their proposals in a format that could be transferred to the Council's GIS system. This was then overlaid onto the OS base data and manipulated using leading edge Arcview technology to provide 3D imaging. A PowerPoint presentation, including video footage, aerial photography and OS mastermap was produced to show the location of the potential developments, and what they may include. This presentation ran on a continual loop at each of the exhibitions and proved to be very popular. Once the exhibitions were complete the presentation ran in the Planning Office reception area so that visitors to the Planning Service were able to see it.

The public exhibitions also included displays of each scheme with feedback forms, a large map for attendees to write comments on and details of local constraints. The exhibitions were staffed by members of Stirling Councils Planning team.

In addition to the exhibitions, and also as a means to advertise them, a leaflet explaining each of the schemes was developed and widely circulated (see above.)

Results achieved

The wide distribution of the leaflet undoubtedly raised awareness of this proposal across the communities most likely to be directly affected. It also helped to reinforce the issues for many of the agencies that will be involved in the successful delivery of this development.

The exhibitions were attended by a total of 332 people. Although we would have liked to see more this represents a significant improvement on attendance at other meetings within this area, where it is traditionally difficult to engage communities in the development plan process. (Previous public meetings on development plan issues had attracted between 5 and 12 people.)

The detailed results are included in the Public Consultation Report that is submitted as part of this nomination, and the Power Point presentation is also included on the associated CD.

Conclusion - Why does this piece of work merit an Award?

• Innovative use of a number of consultation methods to maximise local awareness
• Innovative use of technology to make large scale proposals easy to understand
• Professional delivery using experienced planning staff
• Developed and delivered by Stirling Council planners, within budget (no costly consultants!)
• Well-managed project, planned, developed and delivered on time.

Date
11 September 2003