Local Development Plan – Page 2

Revised City Centre Retail and Leisure Supplementary Guidance Consultation

Twitter image — Click here to view and comment on the proposed guidance.

The Council prepares guidance for the City Centre under the Planning (Scotland) Act. The guidance is a requirement of Policy Ret 9, Alternative Use of Shop Units in Defined Centres, of our Local Development Plan. We do this to guide shops and non-shop uses in town centres including the city centre.

The current supplementary guidance for the city centre was adopted in February 2017. The guidance sets out the policies that apply to the city centre retail core, the boundary of which is defined on the LDP proposals map. The guidance sets out the circumstances where a planning application for a change of use from a shop to a non-shop use will be supported.

Since the original guidance was adopted there has been changes in circumstances that are likely to have an impact on the city centre such as; wider changes to shopping trends, the publication of our City Centre Transformation strategy, the publication of a retail and leisure study, the future opening of the new Edinburgh St James and many changes of use in the centre.

A stakeholder workshop was held on 29 May 2019 for interested stakeholders to raise concerns about the city centre, changes in circumstance and discuss options for amending the guidance to address this changes. As a result we have now prepared draft revised guidance for consultation.

The key changes to the guidance are as follows:

Altering existing policy covering Princes Street to provide significantly more flexibility.
Creating a new separate policy for Castle Street, Frederick Street and Hanover Street which is much more flexible that other named streets.
Altering the existing policy covering the frontages of other named streets in the retail core to be more flexible.
Altering the existing policy covering elsewhere in the city centre retail core, by determining changes of use based on streets rather than units in a row.

In addition, an issue related to food and drink uses is the use of outdoor awnings and fixtures which can be considered development and therefore requires planning permission. In the past we would not support such development due to its visual impact on streets and conservation areas and its effect on the use of public space.

However, we may use guidance to introduce policy for considering temporary planning permission for high quality fixtures in the right places. This will allow us to trial and assess the effect of these proposals in certain places.

The Council is now seeking comments on the revised guidance as well as views on the use of outdoor awnings and fixtures. The consultation exercise will last from 9 August to 20 September 2019 and we encourage all interested stakeholders to submit comments on the guidance via the Council’s consultation hub.

Following the consultation we will collate and consider the comments we receive before preparing the final version of the guidance for adoption.

City Plan 2030 – Key Agencies Workshop

Group discussion at the event

As covered previously, City Plan 2030 is moving forward ahead of a new timetable to be published in August this year. As part of a continued schedule of sessions to gather and build on our evidence needed for the plan we held a workshop to share our progress on City Plan 2030 to a number of people from key agencies and infrastructure providers who we are looking to involve in the project. By involving these organisations we can have proper regard for the provision of infrastructure in the plan.

invited2 — List of key agencies and infrastructure providers involved

The discussions were based around the choices we will have to make on key issues facing the city for the next decade. These included:

Where growth is to be allowed and what impact this would have on transport, energy networks, water and drainage, public health, etc.
How to support and plan for different sectors of industry.
How to best deal with travel and connectivity in and across the city.
Changes to infrastructure coming from carbon neutral targets and technological change.
How the plan will impact future investment in infrastructure.

The workshop was a chance for these agencies to find out more about City Plan 2030, and for us to update them on our progress and next steps.

The event not only allowed us to discuss and take in the views of key specialist agencies and continue to involve them in the making of the plan, but it has also allowed us to take into account the work they are doing and keep them updated on how City Plan may affect their own work in the future, e.g. where better public transport or active travel routes may be needed in the future.

programes — *City Plan 2030 in context with other plans and programmes*

This collaborative working will allow us to bring together a wider range of considerations for a joined-up plan which is more efficient, effective and fair.

Keep track of how this work will progress, and any City Plan 2030 updates by:

Visiting the website at gov.uk/cityplan2030
Subscribing to this blog at https://planningedinburgh.com
Following us on twitter at @planningedin
Join in the conversation by using the #cityplan2030 hashtag

Subscribe to the newsletter by emailing us at cityplan2030@edinburgh.gov.uk

City Plan 2030 – Strategic Development Plan Update

cpupdateimage2

We wrote earlier about the need to change the City Plan project timetable as we were waiting for a decision on the second Strategic Development Plan for South East Scotland. It has now been confirmed that the Scottish Ministers have decided to reject the plan, and the letter which sets out the reasons for this can be read here.

We will work with the Scottish Government, national agencies and our regional partners as we progress City Plan 2030. We will still publish our new Development Plan Scheme in August 2019 which will include the new timetable and dates for consultation.

You can keep up to date with the project by:

Visiting the website at gov.uk/cityplan2030
Subscribing to this blog at https://planningedinburgh.com
Following us on twitter at @planningedin
Join in the conversation by using the #cityplan2030 hashtag

Subscribe to the newsletter by emailing us at cityplan2030@edinburgh.gov.uk

City Plan 2030 – March Timetable Update

cpupdateimage2 As we mentioned in our City Plan Timetable Update, we’re revising the City Plan 2030 project timetable. We’re making these changes as we don’t want to ask for your views on the choices for City Plan until we know what is in another plan – the second Strategic Development Plan for South East Scotland.

We had hoped to carry out the main consultation for City Plan 2030 in the first half of 2019. However, this is now not possible. The main consultation for City Plan 2030 is now expected to take place in the latter half of 2019. We will publish a new Development Plan Scheme in August 2019 which will include the new timetable.

Until then, we will use this time to gather and build on our evidence and studies for Choices for City Plan and hold further engagement events in local places around the city. In the meantime, watch this space and keep up to date with the project by:

Visiting the website at gov.uk/cityplan2030
Subscribing to this blog at https://planningedinburgh.com
Following us on twitter at @planningedin
Join in the conversation by using the #cityplan2030 hashtag

Subscribe to the newsletter by emailing us at cityplan2030@edinburgh.gov.uk

City Plan 2030 – Past Plans 1965

As part of our display in the Central Library on George IV Bridge (running until the end of the month!) we’ve shown parts of old plans and brochures for Edinburgh since the 1940’s. We would like to share some more of our planning past on this blog, to see what City Plan 2030 will follow on from.

The first item we’ve shared is the proposed Development Plan Review from 1965, an update of our very first 1957 City of Edinburgh Development Plan!

This was a early type of consultation document, written to show the main issues faced at the time, and what the planners of the day wanted to do about them, in an accessible brochure. It refers to a number of similar issues to those we are trying to tackle today, such as how growth affects the character of the city, where to direct new growth, and concerns around increased traffic.

Looking at the contents of this Review, they took a very different approach to dealing with these issues than we would today but had a lasting impact and in large part led to the shape of the city as we know it.

1965 city structure existing — Diagram of the city structure as it existed in 1965

1965 city structure proposed — Diagram of the city structure as proposed in this Review

City region and population

In 1965 around 476,400 people lived in the city. (mid-2017 estimate – 513,210) The Review set a target to limit this number going over 491,600 by 1985.

Early on, a Regional Plan is proposed to direct at least some growth outside of Edinburgh and keep the population within this limit.

This early hint toward a Regional Plan would eventually lead to today’s SESplan for South-East Scotland, with Edinburgh at its centre. It also sets targets for housing numbers and a plan for where growth should be allowed without pushing people and jobs away from the city.

Mobility

1965 ring road — Proposed ring road diagram

Major new roads are proposed to reduce traffic jams linked to more people owning cars and cuts to train services. The most radical ideas of the time were plans for an inner ring road, two new radial roads going into the city and a new city bypass.

Of these, only the city bypass was built and part of one radial road – the West Approach Road, but thankfully it’s not the long road link to the M8 that was hoped for. The inner ring road was later cancelled after a campaign from local groups including the Cockburn Association due to the impact it would have had on the historic city and on local housing.

Traffic and congestion is still a challenge, but public transport, active travel and better use of public space is now seen as the way to handle it. The ongoing City Centre Transformation Project and City Mobility Plan will soon share our actions which City Plan 2030 will help to deliver.

Urban renewal and housing

The number of houses required between 1965 and 1985 was estimated at 169,350. At this time there was a focus on new housing in clearance areas which were perceived as having outdated or slum housing.

1965 comp area overview — Comprehensive development area overview

Clearing and renewing areas of unfit housing was seen as a public responsibility. Comprehensive development areas were drawn up to re-plan entire districts.

1965 comp area st james — St James’ Square/Picardy Place model

One such district is St James Square, which was cleared for the St James Centre, which itself has recently been demolished for replacement by a new centre. St James was always to include new shopping and office space. These plans also made space for the ring road and a modern replacement for St Mary’s Cathedral, which did not go ahead.

In later years there has been regret over the loss of many older districts, but this was driven by a great push for social progress at the time. Today, St James is within the New Town Conservation Area and the World Heritage Site, which goes some way to protecting the special value of our places.

Download

Click on the titles below to download the full brochure for more than what we have covered in this blog post, and the 1974 proposals map for the plan which was approved with some changes since the 1965 Review, such as removal of the New Town ring road section.

1965 cover — 1965 Development Plan Review full download (PDF)

1965 proposal map — 1974 proposal map download (PDF)

The 1965 Review shows how development plans can have a lasting impact on the city for decades to come. As we prepare City Plan 2030 we will be thinking about the impact that planning has and how important it is to involve as many people as possible in helping to shape the final plan.

With more engagement events planned around the city in the coming year, you can sign up for the mailing list by emailing the City Plan team at cityplan2030@edinburgh.gov.uk.

We’d like this to be the first of a series of Past Plans blog posts, so if there are any particular plans or planning documents you’d like to see us cover please comment below and we can search the archives to see if we can include it in a future post.