3 STRONG COMMUNITIES

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Introduction

3.1          East Dunbartonshire is made up of a number of individual communities, each with an identifiable character, which is generally valued by the residents. The Council wishes to conserve and enhance the character and amenity of these communities, to the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors.

3.2          The towns and villages are the building blocks of East Dunbartonshire’s communities, and residents identify with, and have loyalties to, their own localities. This Plan reflects the desire to foster and develop this community spirit and through the range of Council activities to encourage residents and developers to have an increased sense of civic pride.

3.3          The plan recognises that towns and villages need to develop to meet the changing demands of their communities, for example for housing, shopping and leisure. The Council has looked at the urban capacity of the settlements and has identified throughout the plan a number of development opportunities, focusing on brownfield and infill sites within the urban areas.

3.4          Preference will, however, continue to be given to development which sustains the character of the communities.

3.5          The housing policies are aimed at helping the development industry to meet the identified needs of the area by confirming agreed development sites and clearly defining the community’s requirements for non-market housing (including social and affordable housing and locations for travelling people).

3.6          The town centre and shopping policies are aimed at maintaining vitality and viability at the heart of our communities, whether it be town or village centres or local parades of shops. They also set standards for assessing “bad neighbour” developments and other commercial activities in town centres.

3.7          The policies for community facilities, leisure and infrastructure are aimed at protecting and enhancing those open spaces, paths and facilities that are valued by the community whilst setting standards which the community requires from new developments.

3.8          The green belt policies are aimed at retaining distinct and compact settlements and resisting uncoordinated sprawl or isolated development. The policies include proposals to strengthen the green belt edge and confirm the Council’s continuing strong desire to control green belt developments by clearly specifying the limited number of circumstances under which development might be supported.