Aberdeen City Council (ACC) has invited all Comunity Councils (CC) to prepare a Local Place Plan (LPP) in 2025. Whilst not mandatory, the LPP is on opportunity for the CC to define it’s aspirations and proposals for the long term development and use of local spaces and buildings. If the regulatory process is respected and the submitted LPP is validated and registered by ACC, the proposals must be taken into account by ACC in the preparation of the next Local Development Plan (LDP) 2028. The final decision on any proposal remains however with ACC. Ideally, the LPP should be submitted during the Evidence Gathering stage of the Local Authority’s LDP cycle which is due to be completed by end September 2025, but in practice the LPP can be submitted at any time.
To inform the CCs of the the What, Why, When, Where Who and How of the LPP process, a presentation and a series of training sessions has been produced by ACC and the Scottish Govt. These documents are available below, and our CC members and local residents are invited to familiarise themselves with the content. Our CBMCC will be reviewing the requirements and deciding on the necessity and scope of any LPP in the coming weeks.
Training session 1: What are Local Place Plans
Training session 2: Questions answered: Who, Where, When, Why, How
Training session 3: Project Managing your LPP
Training session 4: Designing an Engagement Strategy
Training session 5: Managing your data
Training session 6: Writing your Statement of Regard to Statutory Plans
Though not an exhaustive list, examples of what could be considered as development or use of land which might feature in a Local Place Plan could include things like:
• sites which support climate change adaptation, such as renewable energy or flood mitigation;
• local initiatives for the promotion of active travel and community food growing;
• sites for housing, including for affordable housing, new or retained local employment or new tourism/community facilities;
• retaining, improving, and expanding quality open space and green/blue infrastructure and play facilities;
• conservation of the natural/built environment;
• improvements in the town/neighbourhood centre;
• support for a national development, as featured in the National Planning Framework.
Again, though not an exhaustive list, examples of what would not normally be considered as development and therefore not included in an LPP are:
• litter management and dog fouling;
• improvements to public transport (routes and timetables); and
• proposals which do not fundamentally impact on the long-term use of land, such as occasional activities/events using existing facilities, spaces and places.
Applicable regulations and tother documents that have to be respected when preparing LPPs are the Town & Country Planning Regulations, the National Planning Framework 4, the current version of the LDP 2023, and the Scottish govt Planning Circular 1/2022
Town & Country Planning (LPP) Regulations 2021
Circular 1/2022 Local Place Plans