Tuesday, 24 October 2023

Stratherrick and Foyers has become the first community in the Highlands to put in place a Local Place Plan and have it accepted by the Local Authority.  That means Stratherrick and Foyers have a plan that sets out what our community wants to happen on the ground that regional and central government must take account of.

Local Place Plans are part of the Scottish Government’s planning reform to reduce conflict within communities, improve engagement in what should be developed and where and build public trust in planning matters.

The plan has been developed by the Community Trust and the Community Council with a huge amount of input during the various consultation sessions from the community.

Chair of the Community Trust Gareth Jones said today, “We would like to thank all members of the community and stakeholders who have engaged in this initiative and had their say. We express our gratitude for all the work Nick Wright and his team have done in getting this over the line. Nick is an independent consultant who has worked with the Trust over the last three years to gather the thoughts and ideas of the community.  We are all very pleased to have delivered this Place Plan and look forward to making Stratherrick and Foyers an even better place to live and work.”

Chair of the Community Council Patrick Haston said today, “The Stratherrick and Foyers Community Council is delighted to see that the Highland Council has accepted the Place Plan for our area. This represents an important milestone in our community taking control of our destiny. It has been a hugely collaborative process to gather views and establish a shared vision for the future of our community, and now this is now built into the planning framework. This ensures that all future planning applications have to be considered in the light of the community's vision.  The Community Council will use this to assess planning application consultations and will strengthen our position in discussions with Highland Council on behalf of the local community.  We are proud to be the first in the Highlands to have a Place Plan, and I hope others soon follow in our footsteps.

Nick Wright, who helped develop the areas Community Action Plan and Place Plan over the last three years, said on hearing the news, “"Kudos to Stratherrick and Foyers for blazing a trail again - this is the first Local Place Plan to be registered by the Highland Council. This is a new breed of plan under new planning legislation.  Rather than being done to the community by government, this is the community's own plan of what you want to do yourselves and what you’d like local and national government to do."

Once completed and then registered by the planning authority, the Place Plan will be taken into account in the preparation of the relevant local development plan. This is what the Government has to say on the matter. ‘It is vital that local people can engage meaningfully and have a positive influence in the future planning of development in their areas. The aim is to significantly enhance engagement in development planning, effectively empowering communities to play a proactive role in defining the future of their places.’

This week the Stratherrick and Foyers Community received this notice from The Highland Council: ‘We are pleased to inform you that your community’s Local Place Plan submission has been validated by The Highland Council in accordance with Scottish Government Local Place Plan provisions.

We will now make certain teams in The Highland Council aware that it has been validated, as some of them may be able to support your community in the delivery of your Local Place Plan.

Once your Local Place Plan is added to our register, it will be available for members of the public from your community, and other communities, to see and learn from, and for other people, such as developers to take into account when they are planning development or considering land and property management in your area.

The Development Plans Team will take your registered Local Place Plan into consideration when preparing the new, single Highland Local Development Plan; and Planning colleagues will be asked to consider the LPPS in the same way that other policy and area specific planning guidance is used, when they consider planning applications.’

Stratherrick and Foyers will also be able to use the registered plan to support bids for funding required to realise the ambitions set out in our Community Action Plan. The LPP shows how the strategy and priorities in the CAP will take shape on the ground.

The LPP sets this out giving this community real influence over planning policy and public services.

2026

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