Report of Consultation Highland Wide Local Development Plan
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REPORT OF CONFORMITY WITH PARTICPATION STATEMENT Introduction The Development Plan Scheme (DPS) 2009 detailed the way in which the Highland Council would produce the Highland wide Local Development Plan. The purpose of the Highland wide Local Development Plan is to put in place what the policies will be for decisions made on planning applications across the Highland Council area. This Plan will draw together and replace many of the planning policies contained within the existing Local Plans, particularly those that relate to the general approach to development. It will also act as a replacement to the policies in the Highland Structure Plan, which we are no longer required to prepare. It will differ from the previous plans by providing greater consistency, by tackling new issues and by concentrating on topics and areas that can/will change. The Highland wide Local Development Plan will set out some of the main growth areas for the Highlands, and put in place guidance on how these specific areas should be developed over the next ten to twenty years. Purpose The purpose of this report is to demonstrate that the consultation on the Highland wide Local Development Plan – Proposed Plan has met with the participation statement as set out in the Development Plan Scheme which was in place at the time of consultation. As this report is to be submitted as part of the Examination on the Highland wide Local Development Plan the report will cover the following stages of the preparation of the local development plan: Main Issues Report (DPS Spring 2009 in place when document published) Proposed Plan (DPS Summer 2010 in place when document published). Standards for Community Engagement Planning Advice Note 3/2010 – Community Engagement replaced Planning advice Note 81- Community Engagement and sets out the National Standards for Community Engagement and how these can be delivered through land use planning. The Highland Council are committed to using these standards and in doing so we have utilised VOiCE (Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement) to plan, monitor and, in time, evaluate community engagement. A report has been taken from VOiCE and is included as Appendix 5 to this document. In addition the Council produced consultation plans to enable it to prepare for the consultations on both the Main Issues Report and the Proposed Plan. Highland wide Local Development Plan 1 Conformity with Statement of Participation Main Issues Report The first stage in preparing the new Local Development Plan was the Main Issues Report. This set out our general proposals for development in the area and in particular proposals as to where development should and should not occur. It also contains one or more reasonable alternative sets of proposals where appropriate. Main Issues Report Consultation Methods The consultation on the Main Issues Report was held from 31st August 2009 until 9th November 2009. In the Development Plan Scheme 2009 we set out a range of consultation methods we would use to give people the opportunity to have their say on the Main Issues Report. These are outlined in the table below along with how and when these were carried out. How? When? Exhibitions Belladrum Music Festival, Belladrum Estate (06/08/09-08/08/09) Eastgate Centre, Inverness (12/09/09) Nairn Court House (31/10/09) Longman Traveller Site Annual Barbeque (28/08/09) Information Days Wick (31/08/09) Durness (02/09/09) Thurso (03/09/09) Fort William (09/09/09) Portree (11/09/09) Ullapool (15/09/09) Tain (16/09/09) Drumnadrochit (21/09/09) Gairloch (24/09/09) Mallaig (02/10/09) Inverness (05/10/09) Dingwall (06/10/09) Golspie (09/10/09) Aviemore (30/10/09) Workshops Members workshop (18/05/09) SEA Consultation Authorities Workshop (02/06/09) Gypsy/Traveller Community (number of dates) Meetings Regular meetings with SHN, SEPA, Scottish Water and Transport Scotland. Open Invite to groups to request a meeting on the plan. Appendix shows all meetings held. Use of the Internet Information available on the Council’s website. Set up and maintenance of a ‘blog’ for more effective communication with the wider public. Highland wide Local Development Plan 2 Conformity with Statement of Participation Highland wide school competition Keep Us In the Picture Photography Competition held for 10 weeks judged by Highland Youth Voice X-ec. Competition open to all under 25 years old. Attendance at Ward Forums and Youth A full list of ward forums attended can be Forums found as an appendix to this report. We also attended community council forums in Inverness and Nairn. The use of the Highland Youth Voice X- ec meetings were favoured by young people for their method of finding out about the plan (15/08/09). Also presentation and workshops held as part of the Highland Youth Voice Conference 20-22/11/09). Provide Feedback forms online and hard Hard copies of feedback forms available copies at all events and on request. Online feedback forms provided and a webform was available for use. Publicity of the Plan From the publication of the Highland Development Plan Scheme 2009 a number of publicity events/media publicity has been used. Statutory Publicity Legal Adverts have been placed in the Press and Journal for both the SEA and publication of the Main Issues Report. The Press and Journal published these adverts on the 31st August 2009 to coincide with the launch of the public consultation. The Press and Journal was used as it is a Highland wide publication therefore helping us to reduce costs. Non-Statutory Publicity A profile raising advert and poster campaign was run through libraries and Council service points in addition to the use of the Vue Cinema in house magazine. This profile raising campaign ran from April 2009 - July 2009. A series of press releases were issued by the Council to give more detail on the publication of the plan, events and how to get involved in the plan making process. A number of interviews have been broadcast on local radio stations in the Highland area, to help publicise the plan and to let people know more about events happening in their area. Posters advertising the information days have been distributed to members of the community via Ward Managers where possible and have been available to download from the website so the community can also display posters if they feel they would like to help promote the plan. Highland wide Local Development Plan 3 Conformity with Statement of Participation Attendance at local events such as the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival helped raise awareness of the consultation prior to its start. This event was well attended by people from all over Highland and it gave people the opportunity to shape the content of the Main Issues Report. In addition to the statutory advert placed in the Press and Journal on the 31st August 2009 we also placed a full colour half page advert in the front of the paper raising awareness and giving details of scheduled events, how to get in touch, what a Main Issues Report is and giving an open invitation to the public that if they had a group which would like to know more about the Highland wide Local Development Plan we would endeavour to attend one of their meetings. Following the consultation on the Main Issues Report, all of the issues raised in the 332 responses to the Main Issues Report were considered by the Development Plans Team. The issues were grouped and responded to by Development Plans Team to inform the next stage of the plan making process, the Proposed Plan. Highland wide Local Development Plan 4 Conformity with Statement of Participation Highland Wide Local Development Plan - Proposed Plan The proposed Plan Consultation ran from 24th September 2010 – 3rd December 2010 In the Development Plan Scheme Summer 2010 we set out a range of ways we would facilitate community engagement on all of our documents including the Highland wide Local Development Plan – Proposed Plan. In producing the Development Plan Scheme 2010 we changed the format to make it easier to understand following feedback from members of the public and the development industry. Below is each of the statements from the Development Plan Scheme 2010 Participation Statement and how we met these: Work closely with the local media to let you know about how you can get involved Series of Press Releases on the plan (May 2010 – December 2010); Legal Adverts were placed in the Press and Journal for both the SEA and publication of the Proposed Plan. The Press and Journal published these adverts on the 24th September 2010 to coincide with the launch of the public consultation. The Press and Journal was used as it is a Highland wide publication therefore helping us to reduce costs. Radio interviews on local radio station with chairman of Planning, Environment and Development Committee (selection of dates on Moray Firth Radio). Make responses to our consultations available online To help people understand the issues which had been raised at the main issues report stage of the plan all responses to Main Issues Report were made available online The Development Plan Team’s consideration of the issues raised at the Main Issues Report Stage were published online prior to the Proposed Plan being taken to committee. Ask you for feedback on how we are getting you involved A random sample of 100 respondents were chosen from the respondents to the Main Issues Report Consultation to give feedback on how we were getting people involved in the plan making process so far. We received a total of 3 responses and we are taking the comments received on board to improve any future consultations.