Council's Planning Service Wins Recognition At National Awards

The Highland Council’s Planning and Development Service has picked up two commendations at the Scottish Awards for Quality In Planning.

Communities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm presented the awards at a ceremony held in The Hub, Edinburgh earlier today.

The first commendation went to the Council for the Wester Ross Local Plan - Modernising Planning in Action. The Council aimed to improve the plan preparation process by addressing identified weaknesses from previous plans. This involved the use of different approaches to partnership working, project management and community involvement. The Council used traditional methods of engagement as well as a number of other initiatives including the use of opinionmeters, a disposable camera project, the use of aerial photography and photomontages, an arts website, a dedicated local plan website and neighbour notification for proposed allocations. Work on the local plan started in early 2003 and the plan will be adopted shortly. Successful negotiation throughout the plan process led to only three issues being discussed at the local plan inquiry.

The second commendation was awarded for the Small Town Network project which is designed to foster the regeneration of a cluster of settlements situated around the Inner Moray Firth. Drawing inspiration from European concepts of balanced spatial development, the project offers a template and toolkit designed to reinvigorate a sense of place whilst promoting collaborative networking of towns on both a sub-regional and trans-national basis. The process is built around community planning principles and one of the key aims is to encourage and support local people to develop a vision for their own community.

The Council’s Director of Planning and Development, John Rennilson said: "I am delighted with the two commendations and to receive national recognition for what we are achieving in the Highlands. We are the only Council in Scotland to have won at least one award or commendation every year they have been presented and this is a record we are very proud of. It reflects the dedication and hard work of all the staff involved and I would like to offer them my congratulations."

Since the Awards were launched in 1997 they have attracted over 330 applications. All of the award winning entries will now be posted on the Scottish Executive Planning Website.