Lack of integrated planning, development & management strategy (Issue)

Inventory Topic Area PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Subject LACK OF AN INTEGRATED PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Management issues:

"Planning should no longer be the responsibility of the District Councils, but should be a function of a new Park Authority" (Dr Jeffrey Scott, 28 September 1992)

The Working Party were unanimous that the body charged with the conservation of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs area must have a very real influence on the planning decisions taken there. However, there was considerable debate as to the level at which that influence should be exerted and the means by which it should take place.

For strategic planning under the structure plan process - which has to address a wide range of issues - the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs area does not form a suitable unit, despite its size. The recently approved Structure Plans for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs area are, however, designed to be compatible in their aims and objectives and together provide a reassurance that, at the strategic level, well-grounded policies are in place. Moreover, while the structure plans are subject to regular review, in general terms they address longer-term problems and are therefore durable in character.

The Loch Lomond Local (Subject) Plan - a plan adopted by the former Stirling and Dumbarton District Council - provides a comprehensive framework for the planning of conservation, tourism and recreation in the Loch Lomond area. When first prepared in the 1970s, it was an innovative example of inter-authority cooperation. Subsequent reviews pre-dated its adoption in 1968 but much of its detailed content and application is now out of date. There has been a tendency for planning policies and management to be developed independently of each other. Moreover, the Loch Lomond Local (Subject) Plan covers only part of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs area and, in any case, is subject only to limited influence by the Park Authority on specific proposals to which the Plan gives rise. The Subject Plan has been adopted into the relevant local plans.

More recently, emphasis on economic development objectives has led to a series of tourism and/or rural economic studies promoted by local economic development partnerships and companies. Currently, there is only limited integration of local plan policies, conservation objectives, economic development strategies and related policies and proposal; and the quality of policies and proposals varies markedly. Accordingly, while examples of positive planning and joint action under the Loch Lomond Subject Plan can be found, for example in the provision of the new Park Offices at Balloch, there is a lack of consistency of approach to the application of policies across local authority boundaries.

For these reasons, the Working Party are persuaded that a single full local plan for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs area is needed. In particular, such a plan would recognise that the outlying rural parts of Dumbarton, Stirling and Perth & Kinross Districts within our area have much more in common with each other than with the more populous industrialised and urban parts which lie outside it. An arrangement is, urgently required by which Loch Lomond and the Trossachs can be dealt with as a single entity in the context of the local planning process, by the preparation and administration of a single local plan, and of development control which is affected throughout on a consistent basis. It follows that the local authorities responsible for strategic planning will require to coordinate their plans to achieve a consistent policy framework for the single local plan which the Working Party advocate.

Key words Administrative framework; Conservation; Planning and economic development; Lochs; Management; Partnerships; Planning; Policy; Recreation; Strategic plans; Tourism; Statutory framework; Development and local plans

Location Loch Lomond and Trossachs area and its relationship with the surrounding area.

Principle organisations Argyll & Bute Council - Planning, Development & Tourism

Scottish Natural Heritage - CSB

Scottish Natural Heritage - Information & Library Service

Scottish Office - Library

Local contacts Forest Enterprise

Loch Lomond Park Authority

Scottish Natural Heritage - SE Region

Stirling Council - Environmental Strategy

Information:

Airfield Safegurading Zones

Ancient Monuments