Meeting of the Parliament 26 January 2017
I start by welcoming Bill Bowman to Parliament. Despite the sad circumstances in which he does so, I am sure that he brings a lot of experience. I also reiterate his point about the development of waterfronts. In his speech, he talked about Dundee, but I have seen in my area the benefits that redevelopment of Greenock waterfront has had on the local community. It now provides opportunities for retail and the arts, as well as new jobs and businesses, so development works when it is done properly.
I would like to cover three areas that I think are the three essential ingredients of sustainable planning: reliable information, community participation and connectivity. Let us start with reliable information. Planning requires foresight and foresight requires data. As far back as 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development recognised the importance of using technology and consultation in sustainable development. I am sure that in those days there were not many BBC computers lying around the local library, and they could not produce 3D models of the quality that we use today.
Consultation is nothing new. It has always been an integral part of the planning process, but the way in which consultation takes place has changed greatly and can still change. The Scottish Government’s research report shows that there is huge potential for use of digital imagery and 3D visualisation to aid the planning process. In order to benefit from those opportunities, we need access to data and tools. There will be a discussion about who owns the data, who has the right to access it and how we should present it. For example, we do not want to stifle entrepreneurial companies that have great ideas about how to connect rural areas to alternative high-speed internet, but cannot do so because datasets on infrastructure are incomplete, inaccessible or owned by someone else, and nor do we want to transpose the inefficiencies of a paper-based plan to an inefficient digital one. We do not necessarily need to go to a library to see a model anymore: virtual reality on a mobile phone, or easy-to-read and easy-to-search papers online can make consultation more accessible.
Good planning decisions must be based on evidence and take into account a number of social, historical, cultural and environmental factors. No one aspect is more important than another. The needs of a developer to run a profitable business are important, but the needs of an environmental group, a local community council, local businesses, existing residents, wildlife groups, road safety groups and so on are equally important. How does one layer on those external factors when looking at a model of a building or a housing scheme?
That leads me to community participation. A criticism of the current system is the extent to which planning appeals can, and do, overturn community-supported decisions. Many people perceive there to be an inherent bias and unfairness in the planning system and feel that it favours development and developers, as Gil Paterson mentioned. There is also the question of how children and young people are represented, in order to ensure that their needs are at the heart of all our planning decisions. We are planning for their future, after all. In addition, are the needs of disabled people also taken into account?
My colleague Graham Simpson talked about the current top-down system. Greater participation leads to better planning. Good planning is holistic, which leads me to my third and final point.