Endorsement
I welcome the hard work and creativity that has gone into this project. It illustrates a progression from policy ambition to real achievement. That achievement is the blueprint to create a sustainable and successful place.
What the Scottish Government has achieved in leading all of the parties, both public and private sector, to produce excellence in design should not be underestimated. Now we can start to build a project that will remove the need to go abroad to analyse the best in new urban design and landscape treatments; I am very pleased that this is a project being realised here in Scotland. I am pleased that it will give heart and encouragement to all those working on projects to deliver Scotland's sustainable communities of the future.
Homes for Scotland is keen to champion this new way of working and apply this proactive and co-ordinated delivery process across Scotland.
Having acted as an adviser on the drafting of PAN76 I was especially keen to see the rhetoric of that document turned into a reality and the outcomes from Polnoon provide a positive call to action in the planning modernisation agenda.
Polnoon demonstrates that we can achieve great outcomes when we embed our local government planners and engineers in the design team. It demonstrates that we can deliver successful outcomes when "the regulators" move away from the defence of out-of-date policies and reactive ways of working and become involved in the business of giving pro-active positive advice. It demonstrates the benefits to be derived from early engagement with councillors and the community. In particular, it demonstrates the critical importance of a public sector project manager who is committed and determined to deliver a successful outcome.
We are now involved in a great debate about the need for a change of culture in our planning system. Probably unwittingly, the straight forward and common sense approach of roads engineers and planners working together and in real partnership with private sector designers has provided a rich contribution to the culture change agenda.
I believe sincerely that this is not just a "one-off". It is an approach which will help us deliver modern, sustainable homes and communities across Scotland.
Allan Lundmark
Director of Planning and Communications
Homes for Scotland