Scotland’s recently published draft spatial plan includes two developments which the administration believes to be of nationally strategic importance, as well as proposals for 14 infrastructure developments designed to deliver economic growth.
Announced by Planning Minister Derek Mackay, NPF3 has been given the title ‘Ambition, Opportunity, Place’ and includes proposals for the addition of 50 Megawatts of hydroelectric storage capacity and a digital fibre network to connect remote rural communities, many in the Highlands and Islands.
The national developments contained in the document include Ravenscraig, Dundee Waterfront, the Central Scotland Green Network, a national long distance cycling and walking network and Aberdeen Harbour.
‘Scotland’s planning system has an important and positive role to play in supporting sustainable economic growth,’ says Mackay, who wants future planning decisions ‘to give due weight to the economic benefit of proposed developments, particularly the creation of new jobs’. When finalised, says the Scottish Government, NPF3 will provide the context for development plans throughout the country.
Landscape Institute Scotland (LIS) says it is supportive of the draft Scottish Planning Policy and principles ‘which will encourage an essential direction for decision making for the sustainable design and management of Scotland’s landscapes’.
