Purpose and Priorities
Purpose
Land Planning and Development work to deliver the Council and Community Planning Partnership’s overarching vision of working together to achieve the best with the people of East Dunbartonshire and, in so doing, supports all the outcomes contained in the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and, in particular:
- Local Outcome 1: East Dunbartonshire has a sustainable and resilient economy with busy town and village centres, a growing business base, and is an attractive place in which to invest and visit
- Local Outcome 4: East Dunbartonshire is a safe place in which to live, work and visit
- Local Outcome 5: Our people experience good physical and mental health and wellbeing with access to a quality built and natural environment in which to lead healthier and more active lifestyles
The Land Planning and Development service works with internal and external stakeholders to develop and deliver the Council’s and its partners’ strategies and programmes in a way that supports the delivery of the local outcomes. The service does this by:
- Creating the policy framework and providing technical support for land-use, greenspace, biodiversity, climate change, sustainability, economic development, transportation, and regeneration;
- Developing a range of policies, plans, programmes, strategies and projects which support sustainable place-making by assisting business and economic development; facilitate and manage built development; promote the regeneration of our town centres and communities; safeguard and improve greenspace and biodiversity; and address the need to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change at a corporate level and in partnership across East Dunbartonshire;
- Development and implementation of projects and initiatives designed to deliver on the above range of policies.
In carrying out our remit to achieve sustainable place-making; and to support the delivery of economic growth that is socially and environmentally sustainable, the service reflects the Council’s values of focusing on our customers; our employees; partnership; innovation and the pursuit of excellence. This we aim to do whilst taking account of the wider economic, social and environmental factors which impact on individuals, communities and businesses across East Dunbartonshire.
Strategic Priorities
The Land Planning and Development service’s priorities are guided by the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan Local Outcomes 1, 4 and 5 and Guiding Principles, a range of statutory requirements, national legislation and regional priorities. In meeting these priorities and requirements, the service’s work is underpinned by a detailed and evolving knowledge of local communities, ongoing consultation, best practice and benchmarking. As such the following strategic priorities exist for the service:
- Lead on a range of policies, projects and interventions, which contribute to a sustainable and resilient economy with busy town and village centres, a growing business base, and is an attractive place in which to visit and invest. This includes delivering Business Support services and Business Gateway and implementing a range of town centre and regeneration projects.
- Deliver the Council’s City Deal Project as informed by the approved Strategic Business Case.
- Co-ordinate the Council’s response to the challenge of both the climate and ecological emergencies through the development of a Climate Action Plan and Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy, which will assess options to reduce both corporate and area-wide greenhouse gas emissions to contribute to Scottish Government targets, adapt to the effects of climate change, and identify priorities for decarbonising buildings.
- Implement transport related projects which deliver on the commitments of the Council’s Local Transport Strategy and Active Travel Strategy with a focus on enabling modal shift and reflecting our position as part of the wider city region.
- Production of the Local Development Plan for East Dunbartonshire in line with the Planning (Scotland) Act 2006 and 2019 and other legislation.
- Deliver the Council’s statutory functions for planning applications and the continuous improvement as set out in the annual Planning Performance Framework.
- Deliver the Council’s statutory functions for Building Standards in line with the Building Standards verification performance framework.
- Deliver continuous improvement in utilising technology and spatial data to improve efficiencies and effective decision making.
The Land Planning and Development Service lead or play a supporting role in delivering a number of the Refreshed Priorities for East Dunbartonshire Council 2022 – 2027 including:
- Work with partner agencies to eradicate digital exclusion.
- Ensure meaningful engagement with local residents to ensure their views shape town centre regeneration, promoting growth in the local business base and improving access to local services to develop vibrant town centres, which are attractive places to visit and invest.
- Support the council’s City Deal projects, including the completion of the Westerhill Development Road, investment at Westerhill, and redevelopment of Bishopbriggs Town Centre.
- Work with partners and the Scottish Government to take forward ambitions for and principles of “20-minute neighbourhoods” across East Dunbartonshire, recognising that every place is different, as are the needs of its residents.
- Commit that measures to tackle the climate emergency will be central to the council’s policy making processes and corporate objectives, and in particular, that our corporate estate meets all modern standards for energy efficiency to help achieve climate change targets and secure external funding.
- Continue to promote local aspirations for rail halts at Westerhill and the Allander.
- Work with other authorities in the Greater Glasgow area to make full use of the powers in the Transport Scotland Act (2019) to promote sustainable travel and an integrated public transport system.
- Invest in active travel within towns and villages, and between communities, to tackle traffic congestion and climate change, and improve safety and accessibility for both pedestrians and cyclists.
- Invest in parks, open spaces and green network, to improve biodiversity and provide a quality resource for local residents, with modern accessible play equipment for children, and facilities that meet the needs of young people.
- Seek to meet the increasing demand for community gardens and food growing spaces to improve the quality of life for local residents.
- Do more to protect and promote the built heritage of East Dunbartonshire
Work of the Teams
The Land Planning and Development service comprises of ten teams:
- Land Planning Policy;
- Sustainability Policy;
- Building Standards;
- Development Applications (Planning);
- Validation;
- GIS;
- Regeneration and Town Centres;
- Business Support;
- Traffic and Transport; and
- City Deal.
Land Planning Policy
- The Land Planning Policy team leads on the creation of the strategic and local policy framework for land-use, economic development and transportation together with supporting guidance (including Development Plan Supplementary and Planning Guidance). The team is responsible for the production of a Local Development Plan (LDP) for East Dunbartonshire, and all associated land use, economic and transport strategies.
- The strategies are in place to co-ordinate the implementation of economic development and transport projects and Council decisions on planning applications.
- The team leads the Local Outcome 1 delivery group and facilitates East Dunbartonshire Economic Partnership to deliver the actions detailed in the Economic Recovery Plan.
Sustainability Policy
- The Sustainability Policy Team is responsible for developing and monitoring the Council’s climate change and sustainability strategy, including policy relating to carbon management and emissions reduction; energy efficiency; climate change adaptation and corporate sustainability and, in partnership with other teams across the Council, for ensuring that the Council meets its statutory responsibilities in these areas. The team is also responsible for greenspace and biodiversity policy.
- The team works closely with other teams across the Council and with Community Planning partners to support the delivery of the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan, to ensure that our actions today do not limit our quality of life in the future and that the outcomes of the Council’s actions and activities are assessed terms of social, economic and environmental sustainability.
- The team is also responsible for co-ordinating strategic environmental assessment (SEA) across the Council, and ensuring compliance with our statutory duties in relation to SEA. The Sustainability Policy team co-ordinate compliance with statutory duties in relation to SEA and provide an advisory role in relation to SEA across the Council.
Building Standards
- The Building Standards Team preform the role of Local Authority verifiers. The team undertakes a range of functions relating to building design and construction, including the processing of Building Warrants which ensures that development proposals comply with national regulations. The team also issues Completion Certificates which is required before a building can be occupied or brought into use, and is responsible for taking action on dangerous buildings.
- The team also operate a telephone duty service throughout the week whereby customers can seek informal advice.
Development Applications (Planning)
- The Development Applications Team manages the development management functions of the Council, including pre-application advice, and assessment of all planning applications and management of development activity.
- The assessment of development applications is carried out in line with local and national policies whilst ensuring that individuals and communities have the opportunity to make representations within these processes.
- The Development Applications team includes the enforcement function which is responsible for ensuring compliance with approved development conditions and statutory regulations.
- The team also operate a telephone duty service throughout the week whereby customers can seek informal advice.
Validation Team
- Provides initial stage support for the validation process for all planning and building standards development applications including enquiries and receipt of applications.
- Provides general support to the work of the Planning and Building Standards teams, for example in issuing of decision notices for planning permission and building warrants.
- The Validation Team are often the first contact that the public make with the planning and building standards service and advise customers on general enquiries and invalid applications on a regular basis.
GIS Team
- The GIS Team provides innovation in data gathering, analysis and publication and the secure sharing and storage of data, to help inform Council decisions. The team also aims to utilise desktop and mobile applications to improve collaboration between teams and external parties and use this technology to improve partnership working with residents and key stakeholders, ensuring that they are fully consulted and informed of how proposed changes or developments will impact their lives and the places that they live. The work of the team contributes to the digital transformation agenda, using geospatial and automation technology to improve customer service delivery.
- The team also have full responsibility as data custodians for the Central Address Gazetteer (CAG), ensuring that every address meets the Scottish Gazetteer conventions set out by the Scottish Government as part of the One Scotland Gazetteer guidelines and aiming to integrate the CAG within all systems throughout the council to enable accurate data analysis to be carried out.
- To lead on developments from the Scottish Government and key stakeholders within the ePlanning and eBuilding Standards workflows, providing a range of technical support for the Planning, Building Standards and also Environmental Health teams. The team are also the lead contact for third party suppliers and ICT during all upgrades and software resolution.
Regeneration & Town Centres Team
- The Regeneration & Town Centres Team leads on supporting the improvement of our town and village centres working with other Council teams, partners and local communities to develop various plans and strategies, and to support and implement a range of resulting regeneration projects. The team will work to secure funding opportunities to enable and support projects and initiatives in these areas, including regeneration initiatives and tourism. Further, working with partners and colleagues, the team will support and lead on a number of tourism initiatives including the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival.
Business Support Team
- The Business Support Team leads on the Council’s range of programmes and services to support business and facilitate sustainable economic growth and business development. This includes the delivery of projects from the Economic Development Strategy and direct proactive engagement with on-going support to local businesses, through Business Gateway to encourage and support new start business, business growth, green business practices, job creation and inward investment.
Traffic and Transport
- The Traffic and Transport Team lead on the delivery of the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies as well as the development and delivery of key transportation infrastructure programmes, initiatives and projects. This includes the following:
- The delivery of transportation projects
- Promote behaviour change
- Route corridor improvements
- Manage, upgrade and improve authority wide cycle and footpath network
- Maximise the external funding opportunities for East Dunbartonshire
- Development and delivery on and off street parking initiatives
- Manage the core path network
City Deal Team
- The City Deal Team are responsible for developing and implementing the multi million pound programme of projects against the proposals for the Bishopbriggs area identified within the Council’s approved Strategic Business Case.
- The team will ensure the development and delivery of City Deal including the preparation of the different stages of business cases (in-line with City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements), programme management, project development and delivery.
Key Improvement Actions for 2023-2024
- Carry out a substantial overhaul of our Enforcement Charter. Provide a target end date to all investigations where a decision will be made on whether formal action is justified and the case closed to reduce the number of undetermined legacy cases.
- Increase the number of Business Gateway and start up and growth companies;
- Contribute to reduction in those residents earning below the Living Wage; and
- Update the existing climate change policy framework contained in the Council’s Sustainability & Climate Change Framework and Action Plan (2019) to set a net zero emissions framework and adaptation strategy at the corporate and area-wide level, through the preparation of a Climate Action Plan.