Help us prepare our Local Place Plan.
What is a Local Place Plan?
A Local Place Plan is about people and communities and gives communities a statutory right to have their own policy proposals for the development and use of land taken into account by the planning system.
Planning is important for all of us – it’s not just about getting permission to build a shed or replace windows its much bigger than that. There are strategic plans for the whole country such as tackling the climate crisis, or, at a regional and local level planning new housing developments or infrastructure.
A new National Planning framework (NPF4) was adopted by the Scottish Parliament in February 2023 and introduces Local Place Plans for the first time.
The Framework describes different levels within the planning system national, regional, and local –which are expected to reference each other.
Stirling Council is preparing a new Local Development
Plan (LDP) at present in line with the new National framework.
The current Local Development Plan adopted in 2018, includes a settlement plan for Thornhill – it’s conservation area, boundaries, housing, etc. This plan, and the new one when adopted, is the key legal document for judging the acceptability or otherwise of any new proposals for the village and
surrounding area.
As Stirling Council prepare their new plan they are obliged to work with communities across the area and will have to have regard for any Local Place Plans, such as ours, which are registered with them.
What have we done so far?
Why did we have a Community Gathering?
People in Thornhill responded very fully to a questionnaire sent out by the Futures group in April 2021. 110 households shared their concerns and set out ideas for the future.
However, the world moved on since then and while the key ideas which emerged then may still have been valid, we needed to check in with each other to refresh what has been done so far.
It was important to bring together different sections and interests in Thornhill to sit down to talk about what we think is important to us about living in Thornhill and what improvements are needed.
To make this happen we arranged a Community Gathering for Saturday May 20 2023. e
The more people who joined in the conversation the more likely we were to have a realistic and deliverable plan. A clear plan demonstrating credible need will provide information to encourage other organisations to support our ambitions.
We’re building a contact list and working group to see it through.
The day was facilitated by Jamie Hamilton and Roland Playle, Community Chartering Network, who have worked with communities all over Scotland.
The chart below shows what respondents felt would make Thornhill a better place to live and thrive when they answered a village Questionnaire, April 2021.
