Building Briefs – December 20th

• CALA Homes (West)’s boost for charity toy appeal

The homebuilder partnered up with the Salvation Army last month, opening up drop-off points at a number of its developments across the West of Scotland, where residents, visitors and staff were encouraged to hand in toys as part of the charity’s Christmas Present Appeal.

The homebuilder has since been inundated with donations, including a donation of more than £2,500 from subcontractors including Glenavon, Dem-Master, JR Scaffolding and David McGuffie, amongst others, which provided a healthy boost to the total number of toys being sent to the Glasgow City Centre Corps Salvation Army.

Toys were handed in at Fin Glen in Milton of Campsie, Kilmardinny Manor in Bearsden, Kinnaird Wynd and Kinnaird Lee in Larbert, Lethame Green in Strathaven and Jordanhill Park in Glasgow.

• New East Lothian town named Blindwells

Blindwells has been approved as the name of East Lothian’s new settlement.

At Tuesday’s meeting of East Lothian Council, members heard that the name had been supported by 71% of respondents to a public consultation.

The council’s vision is to see the new settlement develop into an exemplar community in which to live, work and play with mixed-tenure housing including affordable homes, first-class facilities and amenities, local employment opportunities, combined with a vibrant landscape.

Recognising the unique opportunity this presents, it asked local schools to compile a shortlist of names – either chosen from a long-list based around themes including local farms, landscape features, people, events and waterbodies, or to put forward their own suggestions.

The panel consisting of councillors and senior officials then met to consider responses submitted by 28 schools. The panel determined that the most popular and suitable names were Charlestoun, Hattonfield, Hopetoun, Muirdale and Nethermuir.

The panel also decided that the name Blindwells, the name by which the former opencast mine was known, should be included on the shortlist of potential names for public consultation.

• Plans progress for Inverness low carbon and active travel hub

Highland Council is progressing plans for a low carbon and active travel hub project based within Rose Street car park in Inverness.

The hub will include 13 multi-use electric vehicle charging points, 8 additional Tesla charge points and an active travel hub to provide walking and cycling information, cycle hire, a bike workshop and outreach programmes, to build on existing provision within the city.

Following the submission of a planning application to enable a change of use for part of the building to accommodate the active travel Hub, the project team has taken into account comments received from active travel groups keen to ensure that the project is a success.

A workshop will take place in January 2020 to engage local stakeholders in outlining aspirations for the hub and the space required to deliver the activities outlined in the grant award. Following the workshop, the planning application will be amended and re-submitted to reflect requirements and available space.

Further information will be released regarding the January workshop once arrangements have been put in place.

• Clackmannanshire approves proposal for flood protection scheme

A proposal for a flood protection scheme in Tillicoultry has been approved by Clackmannanshire Council and will be submitted to SEPA for national prioritisation for grant funding.

This follows the completion of the Tillicoultry Flood Study by consulting engineers, which was required by the Forth Flood Risk Management Plan as the highest priority flood study in Clackmannanshire. The main potential sources of flooding for the area are identified as the River Devon and two burns coming down from the Ochil Hills escarpment.

• Scottish groups share £1.3m of Scottish Land Fund cash

Garnethill Multicultural Centre, Comann Eachdraidh Eirsgeidh (Eriskay Historical Society) and a housing project in Arisaid are set to benefit from receiving a share of £1.3 million of funding from the Scottish Land Fund.

Trustees of Garnethill Multicultural Centre, which has been offering help and support to people from many different backgrounds since 1988, have been given £329,576 to purchase the property they occupy and carry out essential repairs.

Comann Eachdraidh Eirsgeidh (Eriskay Historical Society) will use their £48,234 grant to turn a former school on the island into a heritage centre and to renovate the adjacent schoolhouse so that it can be made available for rent.

Arisaig Community Trust has also received two grants totalling £258,150 to buy land for new housing and to acquire ownership of the shore-front in order to upgrade it for residents and visitors.

The grants to Garnethill Multicultural Centre and Eriskay Historical Society are just two of ten totalling £1,313,841 that has been awarded to groups across Scotland during the latest round of grants from the Scottish Land Fund.

• Clackmannanshire Council hosts local development plan consultation

Clackmannanshire Council has agreed to consult on the first significant stage of the review of the Local Development Plan (LDP).

The Main Issues Report (MIR) will be consulted on for a period of 8 weeks between 10 January and 6 March 2020, and local communities invited to give their views.

The MIR focuses on key issues that have changed from the last Plan and contains one or more reasonable alternative sets of proposals, with a preferred option identified. It is particularly focussed on those issues which have not been previously addressed through the LDP, or which require reassessment but will allow for any other issues to be raised.

The LDP must be prepared in the context of national and local strategies and policies and, where it can, will support their implementation.

These range from the climate change considerations of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Scotland 2019-2020 through the national policies of Scottish Planning Policy 2014 to the Council’s own strategies, programmes and plans such as the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan (LOIP) and the Housing Strategy.

It is proposed to incorporate Sustainable Development, Access and Movement, Developer Contributions and Placemaking into four Core Policies, and add a new Infrastructure chapter which will include streamlined policies on transport and movement, tourism, utilities, renewable energy, minerals, consultation zones and waste.

The housing section proposes fewer policies, focussing on house type, size and tenure, including affordable and particular needs housing.

The Learning Estate Strategy and LDP will be concurrent and reflect interdependencies. Where new school campuses are proposed this may lead to a requirement for developer contributions from new developments. New schools could provide capacity for currently identified housing sites which are constrained by a lack of education infrastructure to commence, and potentially, opportunities for future long term development areas to be identified.

Under the Community and Social Infrastructure section it is proposed to make more explicit reference to cultural and community facilities.
The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal is reflected in the MIR, with particular emphasis on attracting employment to the area, and there is also a focus on town centres, and proposals to introduce a policy to specifically consider tourism and tourism developments.

Countryside policies will be reviewed and some changes are proposed to the Special Landscape Area boundaries. Further consideration will also be given to the coastal zone.

Development sites in the Adopted LDP which have been completed and other sites which are now unlikely to be developed will be removed, with other sites being updated. Proposed new sites are also included in the MIR which also identifies sites which have been promoted for development and the Council’s position on these.

The consultation will be carried out from January to March 2020, and will include drop-in sessions in each of the main settlements and presentations to Community Councils. The MIR and associated documents will be available on the Council website for viewing and comment.