Monday 21 January 2008
 Annual Review 2007 now available
The Joint Committee today publishes its Annual Review 2007. The document focuses on the work of the Committee over the last twelve months
Key issues covered include the Scottish Ministers' Draft Modifications to the Third Alteration to the Structure Plan, climate change and forthcoming changes to the planning system in Scotland.
The Annual Review 2007 can be downloaded as a PDF from here - file size 1.3 MB.
Friday 30 November 2007
Scottish Ministers' Draft Decision on 2006 Plan
On Friday 30 November 2007 the Scottish Ministers published their draft decision on the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2006 Written Statement (2006 Plan), including the Draft Modifications which they propose to make to the Plan.
An eight week objection period, ending on 25 January 2008, has been put in place by the Scottish Ministers to allow all parties with an interest in the Plan to make representations / objections to these Draft Modifications.
The Scottish Ministers will take account of all such representations prior to issuing their final decision on the 2006 Plan, including their final modifications.
Following finalisation of the modifications by the Scottish Ministers, interested parties who still feel aggrieved,will then have a six week period to consider a legal challenge.
The Joint Committee will be formulating its own detailed responses to the Draft Modifications, in liaison with its constituent local authorities.
In order to assist interested parties, the Joint Committee is providing the following documents as downloads:
The Draft Modifications, as received from the Scottish Ministers, can be downloaded as a PDF file here - file size 86 KB
An Objections / Representations form on the Draft Modifications to Scottish Ministers can be downloaded as a PDF file here - 16 KB
This form can be submitted to
Scottish Government Planning Directorate
Area 2-H Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
or by email to 3rdalterationmods@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
The Report of the Examination in Public, held in April / May 2007 into aspects of the proposal to identify Bishopton as a Community Growth Area can be downloaded as a PDF file here - file size 836 KB
A version of the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2006 Written Statement, with the Draft Modifications integrated - showing both deletions and additions to the text only, can be downloaded as a PDF file here - file size 2.78 MB
The Draft Modifications, as received from the Scottish Ministers, and a copy of the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2006 are also available at the following Council offices:
East Dunbartonshire Council
The Triangle
Kirkintilloch Road
Bishopbriggs
East Renfrewshire Council
Eastwood Park
Rouken Glen Road
Giffnock
Glasgow City Council
229 George Street
Glasgow
Inverclyde Council
Cathcart House
6 Cathcart Square
Greenock
North Lanarkshire Council
Fleming House
2 Tyrst House
Cumbernauld
Renfrewshire Council
Renfrewshire House
Cotton Street, Paisley
South Lanarkshire Council
Montrose House
154 Montrose Crescent
Hamilton
West Dunbartonshire Council
Garshake Road
Dumbarton
And at public libraries throughout each Council area.
Wednesday 28 November2007
EU INTERREG IIIC InterMETREXPlus Project
In early 2007 the Joint Committee agreed to implement a process to assist the formulation of a strategic development plan response to planning for climate change. As part of the process the Joint Committee agreed to continue as lead partner in an extension to the InterMETREX project.
The project extension InterMETREXPlus was based around the use of the GRIP (Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Project) Model, developed by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research www.grip.org.uk
The Joint Committee, through the EU INTERREG IIIC InterMETREXPlus project, has been able to undertake its first ever substantive analysis of greenhouse gas emissions across the metropolitan area.
Combined with an innovative engagement of partners and stakeholders in energy futures scenario workshops which have provided a broad consensus on what can and needs to be done to meet the challenge of an 80% greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2050.
This work has demonstrated the validity of broadening the scope of the InterMETREXPlus project to engage with a wider range of stakeholders. The Joint Committee recognises that one authority, region or country cannot go it alone on tackling climate change and that trans-national co-operation will be necessary.
This initial work provides a solid basis for starting to develop and share spatial planning responses with partner organisations and countries and the Joint Committee looks forward to working with its partners in developing this work further via a successful submission to the EU INTERREG IVC programme for the METREX EUC02 project.
If you have any questions then please contact George Eckton who is the Strategic Planner with responsibility for this study on 0141 229 7730.
Copies of the InterMETREXPlus Final Report 2007 in PDF format can be downloaded here - file size 1.67 MB.
Copies of the various InterMetrexPlus project outputs are available at www.eurometrex.org/euco2/pilot.htm
Monday 15 October 2007
Waste Management Issues Report 2007
Following the publication of the Retail Issues Report 2007 on 1 October 2007 the Joint Committee launches its second issues report.
The Waste Management Issues Report 2007 invites views on the main issues which could have implications for the longer-term provision of an integrated strategic waste management system within the Glasgow and Clyde Valley area.
Your responses will assist the Joint Committee in deciding whether policy changes are necessary.
It is important to stress that the Joint Committee seeks at this stage to collate the views on the issues raised, however the discussion of any particular issue does not infer commitment to any change in strategic policy.
If you have any questions then please contact George Eckton who is the Strategic Planner with responsibility for this study on 0141 229 7730.
Responses to this report are sought by 21st December 2007.
Copies of the Waste Management Issues Report 2007 in PDF format can be downloaded here - file size 2.42 MB.
Written comments should be sent to:
Dr Grahame Buchan
Structure Plan Manager
Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Structure Plan Joint Committee
Lower Ground Floor
125 West Regent Street
Glasgow
G2 2SA
Or by email to waste.issues@gcvcore.gov.uk
Monday 1 October 2007
Town Centres and Retailing Issues Report 2007
The Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 has set out the requirement to replace Structure Plans in the four city regions of Scotland with Strategic Development Plans.
The Scottish Executive stated in Modernising the Planning System (2005) the intention that a Strategic Development Plan "will concentrate on an overview of genuinely strategic issues which cross council boundaries, for specified groups of authorities" and that they will be "brief, clear and more focused than structure plans".
Within this new legislative context the eight constituent councils of the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Structure Plan Joint Committee have begun to identify key issues which could have implications for the future role of town centres and future retailing requirements.
The Joint Committee invites responses to the Retail Issues Report 2007 which asks a series of questions in order to guide the production of first Glasgow and Clyde Valley Strategic Development Plan.
Your responses will assist the Joint Committee in deciding whether policy changes are necessary.
It is important to stress that the Joint Committee seeks at this stage to collate the views on the issues raised, however the discussion of any particular issue does not infer commitment to any change in strategic policy.
If you have any questions then please contact George Eckton who is the Strategic Planner with responsibility for this study on 0141 229 7730.
Responses to this report are sought by 17th December 2007.
Copies of the Retail Issues Report 2007 in PDF format can be downloaded here - file size 3.73 MB.
Written comments should be sent to:
Dr Grahame Buchan
Structure Plan Manager
Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Structure Plan Joint Committee
Lower Ground Floor
125 West Regent Street
Glasgow
G2 2SA
Or by email to retail.issues@gcvcore.gov.uk
Tuesday 27 March 2007
Examination in Public
This file folder, accessed through the Joint Committee's Web-site, contains Acrobat 'pdf' copies of all documentation to which reference is made in the Joint Committee's three Statements to the Examination in Public into the Bishopton Community Growth Area Glasgow as identified in the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2006 and Third Alteration 2006
The coding of the documents is as follows:
I1 to I47 - references one to forty-seven of the Statement to the Introductory session April 19, 2007
T1 to T - references one to twenty-three of the Statement to the Transport session , May 8 - 9, 2007
*** Please note that T13 is not currently available in 'pdf' format. This is the Regional transport Strategy which will be submitted to the Scottish Ministers on 31st March 2007 and will be available shortly thereafter on SPT's web-site.
C1 to C10 - references one to ten of the Statement to the Contamination session , May 10 - 11, 2007
Please note also that certain documents perform the function of referencing different sessions and may have a multiple reference number e.g. IS7&C3&T5
Recent Developments
THE JOINT COMMITTEE REVIEWS 2006 as a seminal year in its metropolitan development strategy and reviews progress in the delivery of key developments. For the first time, the Joint Committee publishes not just an Annual Report (a mandatory product within the terms of its constitution), but an
Annual Review
specifically for its Web-site and for wider public consumption. In its first Annual Review, the Convener highlights a wide range of key developments and key happenings which feature the Joint Committee's Strategic Plan, but also its influence in terms of legislation and various partnerships, a hallmark of its work.
THE NEW 2006 PLAN (Third Alteration and Written Statement 2006) was submitted to the Scottish Ministers in May 2006. It updates and alters the 2000 Plan, approved by Scottish Ministers in 2002. Whilst re-affirming the core metropolitan regeneration Strategy of the 2000 Plan, because of changing demographic and economic circumstances, the 2006 Plan adds in an economically tested and confirmed growth scenario as the basis of its strategic land allocations and seeks to reposition the metropolitan area in terms of its competitiveness in national, European and international markets.
THE SCOTTISH MINISTERS in December 2006 announced an Examination in Public (EIP) into the New 2006 Plan (Third Alteration and Written Statement 2006). The EIP will address the strategic issues of contamination and transport at Bishopton in Renfrewshire in order to examine the strategic designation of the village as one of the Plan's long-term Community Growth Areas. This EIP will be the first in some twenty-five years in Scotland, but will trail their arrival as mandatory components of the development plan system under the new Planning Act, recently approved by the Scottish Parliament.
THE YEAR 2006 sees a change in the professional leadership of the Joint Committee. Between 1996, the Joint Committee's inception year, and 2006, Vincent Goodstadt, a former President of the UK's Royal Town Planning Institute and a high profile planning professional, led the Joint Committee's work. He has moved on now to other ventures and has been succeeded by his deputy over those influential ten years, Dr. Grahame Buchan, who will lead the migration from Structure Planning into Strategic Development Planning, under the new Planning (Scotland) Act.
THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE confirms the national significance of the Joint Committee's Metropolitan Development Strategy. The National Planning Framework (NPF) published in 2004, incorporated the Joint Committee's spatial development priorities and this confirmation has been restated in 2006 by the Scottish Executive in its 'Regeneration Policy Statement' (RPS), giving greater policy weight to these priorities and aligning Executive and Executive Agencies future spend to ensure their delivery. The RPS also identifies the creation of special delivery vehicles for the Clyde Gateway Flagship Initiative and for Riverside Inverclyde. Additionally, it reaffirms its support for the national significance of the Clyde Waterfront Flagship Initiative and its Partnership Board, and for the predominantly private sector-driven Ravenscraig regeneration project in Lanarkshire.
THE RAVENSCRAIG Regeneration Flagship Initiative, subject to a legal challenge against the Scottish Ministers and the Joint Committee by private sector interests, and successfully defended in the Court of Session in Edinburgh in 2005, has now been successfully defended in the House of Lords, the UK's highest Court. It was heard in July 2006 and by a unanimous decision, the five Lordships dismissed the Appeal and awarded costs to the Scottish Ministers and the Joint Committee. Their Lordships cited the strategic long-term thinking of the Joint Committee as the key aspect of their decision. This major regeneration project for Central North Lanarkshire, one of the Joint Committee's three key Flagship Initiatives, will deliver a strategic re-structuring of that part of the metropolitan area, with a new Town Centre, major employment developments and new housing, a regional sports complex and the creation of a mixed multi-dimensional community, on the site of the former Ravenscraig steelworks.
THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S International Profile continues to grow. From its inception in 1996, the Joint Committee has adopted an open and positive attitude towards working within the wider European and international spheres of Strategic Planning, adopting an attitude of mutual learning between fellow political leaders and planning professionals. In the intervening period, the Joint Committee has hosted professional visits from a wide range of countries - Japan, China, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Baltic countries, to name but a few - each eager for knowledge of the Joint Committee's partnership approach to strategic development planning. Summer 2006 saw two political and professional deputations from Oslo Akershus, in Norway and from the Association of Local Authorities in western Norway. Earlier in 2006, the Joint Committee hosted a workshop visit of strategic planning professionals from many different parts of the European mainland.
THE JOINT COMMITTEE leads European Planning Projects. The Joint Committee is a founder member of the METREX Network of metropolitan planning, an organisation which has grown in scale and in influence within Europe and which is at the forefront of the debate on the growing significance of metropolitan governance and planning across Europe.
As part of this network, the Joint Committee is the 'Lead Partner' on one of the biggest INTERREG IIIC projects awarded funding by Europe. The 'InterMetrex' project is a key benchmarking project developed and led by the Joint Committee and its METREX partners to establish best practice in strategic development planning across the European Union, including the Accession countries.
Consistent with a benchmarking study, the Joint Committee is seeking to improve its own capabilities and processes, within its statutory powers or competences, and early work in this area has already been incorporated into the Joint Committee's approach to reviewing its own service. Full details of this project, its workshops and results to date can be accessed on www.eurometrex.org
A second major EU-funded project of the METREX network, 'PolyMetrex', also has Joint Committee involvement. This project is central to the Joint Committee's recently submitted Alteration 2006 of the 2000 Plan in that it seeks to address economic competitiveness, and to identify, from a strategic planning perspective, the actions necessary to foster such competitiveness.
This issue is a central theme in EU spatial development perspective and regional policy for promoting the economic competitiveness of more peripheral economies like that of Scotland and of Glasgow & Clyde Valley.
The detailed membership and the results of analytical workshops in each project held to date are accessible on www.eurometrex.org
New Developments in the Scottish Planning System
THE JOINT COMMITTEE MODEL shapes the future strategic development planning system for Scotland. The Scottish Executive will introduce substantial changes to the Planning system in Scotland in 2008, particularly at the strategic level. The necessary legislation recently passed through the Edinburgh Parliament, as Planning is a devolved function from Westminster. Instead of Structure Plans covering the whole country, such strategic plans will be reinforced in the four city regions based on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen and their hinterlands. Within these areas, Structure Plans will be replaced with Strategic Development Plans, with a strong long-term spatial focus and clear Action programmes, which should provide for real partnership working between the public and private sectors to deliver the geographical futures set out in the revised Plans. In organisational terms, as the recommended model for the metropolitan areas, the new system will be shaped around the joint working model and dedicated professional team, as developed by the Joint Committee. Outwith these complex metropolitan areas, there will be a single level of Unitary Plans.
Partner News
THE NEW TRANSPORT AGENCY FOR SCOTLAND AND ITS REGIONAL DELIVERY ARMS took over the delivery of transport strategies and projects in Scotland on April 1, 2006. These agencies are targeted at delivery. In the metropolitan area, the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) has taken over the roles and responsibilities of the former public transport authority, SPT, and the strategic role of the WESTRANS Partnership, and
becomes a key partner of the Joint Committee in the implementation of the Metropolitan Development Strategy. The Joint Committee identifies accessibility improvements and transport investment as key supporting actions for the delivery of the long-term regeneration of metropolitan western Scotland. The top priority for the new SPT is the production and submission to the Scottish Ministers of a Regional Transport Strategy for its area, by April 2007. |
