Local Place Plans
What are Local Place Plans?
A Local Place Plan is a community-led document that aims to easily convey a community’s proposals for the development or use of land and buildings in their local area.
Introduced by the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, Local Place Plans are a way for community councils or community-controlled bodies to engage with their local community, to think about how to make their place better, to agree priorities, and to take action (often working with others).
For information on the stages of Local Place Plan preparation, from draft, to proposed, to finalised, and then to registered, read our Local Place Plan Preparation Flow Chart.
For information on the Government requirements for Local Place Plans, plus the things that we ask for to aid the Local Place Plan validation process, read our Local Place Plan Template Guidance.
Read our latest Local Place Plan update.
Local Place Plan submission
Local Place Plans can be submitted at any time.
As we are in the evidence gathering stage for the new, Highland Local Development Plan (HLDP), Scottish Government required us to set a date by which Local Place Plans should be registered for them to be fully considered as evidence for the HLDP.
Following our awareness-raising of Local Place Planning, our formal invitation to prepare Local Place Plans was issued on 29 June 2023. We further extended our deadline for the registration of Local Place Plans from 28 June 2024 to 27 September 2024.
Our Friday 27 September 2024 has passed and the following arrangements now apply:
- Local Place Plans established as valid up to the end of 2024 will be registered and taken into account in the preparation of the new HLDP
- Local Place Plans submitted in the first quarter of 2025 are still likely to be able to be registered and taken in account in the preparation of the new HLDP
- Local Place Plans submitted from April 2025-onwards will be taken into account at the next available opportunity in the local development plan cycle
The role of Local Place Plans in the Local Development Plan preparation will be reaffirmed in a report to the Economy and Infrastructure Committee on 14 November 2024.
The role of Local Place Plans
In the Local Development Plan
Local Place Plans can play a part in shaping the Local Development Plan for a region.
Registered Local Place Plans will not be part of the Local Development Plan but inform the preparation of it. Registered Local Place Plans are considered to supplement, rather than replace, existing means of community engagement.
Local Place Plans registered by ourselves within the set timeframe, will be taken into account in preparing the new Local Development Plan from the outset of its preparation.
Local Place Plans registered outwith the set timeframe will be taken into account at the next opportunity presented by the programme for Local Development Plan preparation.
As part of our review of the evidence for the new Local Development Plan, we will show how elements in the registered Local Place Plans have been taken into account and why they have or have not been accepted.
In planning applications
All Local Place Plans registered by us can be a material consideration when planning applications are being considered by our Planning Authority.
Highland Local Place Plans Learning Event
We held a learning event about Local Place Plans with communities in Highland on 28 May 2024.