Local Place Plans

Invitation to Prepare Local Place Plans

Local Place Plans were introduced by the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, giving communities the new power to produce their own plans to inform the preparation of the Local Development Plan.

Local Place Plans provide an opportunity for a community-led approach to promote community aspirations and create great places. Community groups in Inverclyde are encouraged to take up this key opportunity to positively influence the future planning of their areas. We are inviting community groups to prepare Local Place Plans.

The new Local Development Plan will consider all validated and registered Local Place Plans to ensure that communities’ aspirations for future development are proactively fed into the development planning process. Planning officers will offer support to communities to guide them through the technical process, so that they can meet the legal requirements for validation. If you are interested in preparing a Local Place Plan, or have any questions on the process, please contact us at: ldp@inverclyde.gov.uk.

It is recommended that communities submit Local Place Plans for validation before the end of July 2025. This will allow sufficient time for Local Place Plans be validated, registered and considered before publication of the Proposed Local Development Plan.

Statutory Requirements

A Local Place Plan must fulfil the following criteria. It must:

be prepared by a Community Body;
be a proposal for the development or use of land; and
fulfil the legal requirements set out in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and the Town and Country Planning (Local Place Plans) Scotland Regulations 2021 (links in the Other Websites section of this page)

Definition of a Community Body

(a) a community-controlled body within the definition given in section 19 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (link in the Other Websites section of this page), or

(b) a community council established in accordance with Part 4 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (link in the Other Websites section of this page).

Broadly speaking, the definition covers established community councils, and bodies which must have a written constitution, but may not necessarily be incorporated.

Proposal for development or use of land

‘Development’ includes the change in use and appearance of existing buildings and land as well as new buildings. Local Place Plan proposals must relate to this ‘development’ process.

It is recognised that other matters, which are not defined as ‘development’ will be important to communities such as:

litter management and dog fouling;
the management of existing private or public spaces;
matters which seek to protect the interest of one person or business against the activities of another;
improvements to public transport (routes and timetables); and
proposals which do not fundamentally impact on the long-term use of land, such as occasional activities/events using existing facilities, spaces and places.

Communities will want to consider how these are expressed within the Local Place Plan. These cannot be considered as part of the Local Development Plan process. Validated Local Place Plans will however be shared with relevant services across the Council for their consideration.

Fulfilling the legal requirements

Local Place Plans must be prepared in accordance with Schedule 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and The Town and Country Planning (Local Place Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (links in the Other Websites section of this page). The Council can provide further guidance and assistance in relation to these requirements.

Scottish Government Planning Circular 1/2022 Local Place Plans (link in the Other Websites section of this page) gives further advice on meeting all of the above requirements.

The Scottish Government has prepared a How to Guide to support communities in preparing Local Place Plans. The Draft How to Guide (link in the Other Websites section of this page) includes some helpful advice on the process. Please note however that it was prepared before the Regulations and Circular were finalised.

A template can also be downloaded from this page to assist in the preparation of your Local Place Plan.

Assistance Available

Start-Up Meeting

Officers from the Planning Policy Team are available to meet with the community groups at the start of their Local Place Plan process to discuss the statutory requirements, explain the support that is on offer and discuss any further assistance.

Key Documents

Local Place Plans are required to have regard to the following documents:

National Planning Framework 4

Inverclyde Local Development Plan 2019

Local Place Plans may also wish to consider the Proposed Inverclyde Local Development Plan 2021 which is not adopted, but represents the Council’s most recent spatial strategy.

(Links to these documents can be found in the Related Links and Other Websites sections of this page)

Stakeholder Engagement

When your community group has a draft Local Place Plan for consultation, the Planning Policy Team will provide a response on the draft and will coordinate responses on the draft from relevant Council services.

Pre-validation check

A final meeting is available to communities to give the opportunity to undertake any outstanding processes which would be required to ensure a Local Place Plan is valid prior to formal submission.

Additional Support

The Council may be able to offer other assistance to groups, however due to resource implications, and dependent on the level of interest, these may not all be available to every group. There will be an opportunity to discuss additional support at your start-up meeting. We may be able to offer assistance with the below:

Support to form a “community-controlled body” as defined by the Community Empowerment Act.
Printed mapping and materials
Subscriptions to Online platforms such as Community Map Scotland.
Training in for example facilitation, engagement or the Place Standard.
Assistance to apply for funding opportunities for professional/consultancy support

Other Resources

The resources lised below - which may be of assistance and interest as you move towards preparing a Local Place Plan - can be accessed via links on the Other Websites section of this page.

Literature Review and Research Report, which includes details of a number of community led plans across Scotland.
Our Place is a site which includes a wide range of information, tools and resources to support place and place-based working.
Planning Aid Scotland have prepared a Guide for Community Delivery of Local Place Plans.