New Developments For Planning Service
At a meeting of The Highland Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee Councillors agreed a number of recommendations that will have a significant impact on the future of the Planning Service.
Chairman Ian Ross said: “The meeting was very constructive and we will now be able to take forward significant policy developments that will show developers that the Highlands is a place where they can do business. The policies will also strengthen our commitment to drive up standards and work with communities to ensure quality and access issues are always thoroughly addressed.”
New Supplementary Guidance on the provision of open spaces in new developments will be going out to public consultation early in January. During the meeting, Members were advised that once formally adopted, the Guidance would provide a consistent framework to ensure the higher quality of open spaces right across the Highlands. As part of the consultation, community councils, resident associations, developers, partners and the public will be asked to select one of three options they feel the Council should adopt for the long term management and maintenance of open spaces.
A further report was presented to the Committee on the benefits that having Supplementary Guidance on Developer Contributions would bring to the Council and Highland communities. After commissioning consultants to carry out a “health check” on the Council’s current approach to delivering and managing developer contributions, a number of recommendations for improvements were put forward. The new policy which planning officers are preparing will cover all aspects of developer contributions including negotiation, administration, governance and delivery.
Richard Hartland, Head of Planning and Building Standards said: “Working closely with developers is important to ensure that the costs of extra infrastructure required for these developments to take place is addressed early. With the current pressures on our budgets and the need for developers to have certainty on their costs, it becomes even more important that we have a firm policy in place. By having a specialist team to oversee the process we will be able to identify requirements early, ensure infrastructure needs are met and help communities become more sustainable.”
A full report will be presented to Members in January before going out to consultation.
Also discussed was the new Planning Act which requires all those involved in delivering new development should work in partnership. Currently all Council services are involved in providing advice to major developers. During the Committee Members agreed that having a more integrated corporate approach to pre-application advice would benefit developers, save staff time and provide a better end product. Representatives from the development industry will be invited to a seminar to discuss this new protocol before it is finalised and implemented.
Councillor Ian Ross said: “We are putting even greater emphasis on the needs of all of our customers and this includes developers and communities. To fight against the current credit crunch we want to encourage developers and by introducing robust and affective policies we will raise the standards and ensure accessible and quality developments can prosper.”