Mediation in the Development Plan
The development plan has two parts.
- Strategic Development Plans deal with broad principles over a long time period. They are prepared by Strategic Development Planning Authorities drawn from Councils in the Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen city regions, and are approved by the Scottish Ministers.
- Local Development Plans deal with the details of land allocated for development and the policies to be applied. They are being prepared by all Councils and both National Park Authorities. Local Development Plans are expected to be consistent a Strategic Development Plan, if one is in place.
- Local Development Plans are replacing Local Plans. They also replace Structure Plans, except in the four city regions.
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Strategic Development Plans are replacing
structure plans in the four city regions.
Elsewhere in Scotland, structure plans will be phased out
when new Local Development Plans are adopted.
Once a Strategic Development Plan has been approved or a Local Development Plan adopted, planning applications must be determined in accordance with them unless material considerations dictate otherwise. The Scottish Government: Planning website has more information.
Mediation or consensus building can be appropriate at any stage in the preparation of a plan, right up to the point of approval or adoption. Early discussion will almost certainly prove more effective.
While a plan is being drafted, the local authority and potential objectors (who might be either developers or the community) can discuss proposals with a view to fine-tuning them. Consensus building allows this to happen in a constructive atmosphere, taking much of the heat out of later formal objection stages. The aim is to agree how an aspect of the plan might be made acceptable to all parties.
Plans can attract hundreds, or even thousands, of objections. This is when temperatures can rise. Mediation between developers, objectors and the local authority avoids direct confrontation and instead searches for mutually acceptable solutions.
In many instances a local authority might agree to change a plan. But they cannot allow themselves to be bound by an agreement if it might affect other parties not included in the mediation.