This page gives you many helpful links on the legislation, guidance from the Scottish Government, and links relating to the National Park, such as links to the various local authorities that cover your area and where you can ask for help.
We think the first thing to look at is some examples of Local Place Plans. You will find a list of all the plans in the Park on the Community Planning webpage. You will notice that there are a number of communities who recently produced Local Place Plans and if you contact us we can put you in touch with other communities to get peer support, or please download this ‘Community Websites and Contacts‘ pdf.
We also held a Local Place Plan event in September 2021 when all communities came together to discuss Local Place Plans.
Information and Guidance about Local Place Plans
Circular 1/2022: Local Place Plans – This Scottish Government Circular provides guidance on the preparation, submission and registration of Local Place Plans.
Local Place Plans Draft ‘How to Guide’ – The Scottish Community Development Centre and Nick Wright Planning developed a draft ‘How to’ Guide aimed at supporting communities to prepare Local Place Plans. An updated version is anticipated and will hopefully be made available on the Our Place website (below). Have a look at Renfrewshire’s Council’s How To Guide for another example.
Our Place – Local Place Plans – The Our Place website has been developed by the Scottish Government and partner organisations to support collaborative place-based working across Scotland. The website includes a range of information relevant to Local Place Plans, place-making principles and approaches.
Legislation
The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 provides the framework of the legislation for the delivery of Local Place Plans. The Act is supported by the Town and Country Planning (Local Place Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 2021.
Engagement resources
There are lots of resources on how to engage but we think these are some of the best ones. Please speak to us if you need help with the facilitation of workshops.
- Place Standard provides a simple framework to structure conversations about place. It allows you to think about the physical elements of a place (for example its buildings, spaces, and transport links) as well as the social aspects (for example whether people feel they have a say in decision-making). The tool provides prompts for discussions, allowing you to consider all the elements of a place in a methodical way. Support is provided for the use of the Place Standard tool.
- Place Standard: Versions for children and young people
- Our Place Scotland Place Standard tool with a Climate Lens tool
- Living Well Locally in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park: A guide to adapting the 20 Minute Neighbourhood concept to meet residents’ needs in a rural context – Report – and there’s also a ‘blueprint’ with ideas on how to engage.
- National Standards for Community Engagement provide a useful framework and checklist for anyone wanting to reach out to their communities and as a re
- SP=EED practical guide to engagement focuses on community engagement in planning, development and placemaking. It provides a helpful framework for framing engagement at three levels, depending on your objective. Level 3 (Partnership) is the level that you should aim for in preparing a Local Place Plan.
- Argyll and Bute Community Action Planning Toolkit takes community groups through a community action planning process and provides useful advice for each stage. Of particular relevance to this stage are the Reaching Out section and the fact sheets on ‘what makes a good vision’ and ‘running a visioning event’.
- West Lothian Engaging Communities Toolkit is a visually engaging guide to engaging your community, and includes examples of various different techniques and their pros and cons.
Local Information/Community Profiles
The Scottish Government’s How to Guide mentioned above, has a section on how to understand data – the facts, figures and people’s stories. Please look at this list first (pg31) and then you can also use these specific links for the National Park.
Housing – We are not a housing authority but we do collect data on housing and undertake a housing land audit. Your respective housing teams at Stirling, Perth and Kinross, Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire prepare the housing needs and demand assessments for the area and hold figures on number of social rent, second homes and so forth. We gather this information for our own purposes and if you are having trouble gathering housing data then please get in touch.
Planning decisions – We have an eplanning portal where you can look up specific planning applications but this is more designed for commenting on applications rather than analysing the information. We also prepare an annual monitoring report gathering information on what has been approved and built under various categories – housing, tourism, renewables, active travel, retail etc.. If you need a list of all the approvals and completions of certain types of development in your area then please get in contact via livepark@lochlomond-trossachs.org and we can provide this.
Population – There are a number of useful links in the How to Guide to help you understand your population – like access to the census website, information on the index of multiple deprivation.
- Stirling Council have prepared a helpful guide for each Community Council area with the 2011 census data (this is the most up-to-date census data until 2022 data is available later this year). See their website here and select your community council, then click the tab Community Council and then Demographic Profile.
- Argyll and Bute Council have a wider area based profile rather than Community Council level data.
Local Designations and infrastructure
Our Local Development Plan map provides information on allocations and constraints such as housing sites, open space and conservation areas. Our Trees and Woodlands map also provides information on natural heritage designations (just add layers) alongside preferred areas for new woodland. Scotland’s Environment web map provides lots of information on natural and cultural heritage and protected sites. For cultural heritage the Environment Web includes the Canmore data which is information on listed buildings and other sites of importance.
Local services plans and strategies
All the relevant local authorities that cover the National Park hold information such as Local Transport Strategies, Climate Change Plans, Local Housing Strategies and so on. There are 4 Community Planning Partnerships run by the local authorities, which prepare Local Outcome Improvement Plans and Locality Plans. As far as we are aware, currently there are no Locality Plans prepared by a Council for the National Park communities. Contacts and further information about Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland can be found here or you can search Community Planning Partnership or Locality Outcome Improvement Plan on your council website.
Other Regional National Park Plans and Strategies
Addressing the twin crises of Climate and Nature is a priority for the National Park Authority, for further information and to read our plans and strategies on these topics, please visit our Climate Emergency webpage and the Nature Crisis webpage. We have a range of other strategies and plans that cover conservation, visitor management, tourism, access and recreation. Please visit the Park Authority’s Plans and Publications webpage to see all the plans that have been published. Some key documents include:
