City Plan 2030 – Visitor Accommodation Seminar

As City Plan 2030 moves forward, we are holding more events on key subjects such as the Housing Seminar we shared just over a week ago. The events are attended by people who work in these areas and are a way of sharing and gaining knowledge in specific topics.

Our most recent event was on the subject of visitor accommodation, (such as hotels, short-term lets, hostels and guest houses) dealing with the growth of tourism and the impact on the property market.

We invited those involved in building or running visitor accommodation, or with a stake in this activity. With over 60 people signed up to attend, we heard from a range of perspectives.

The first speaker was Jim Galloway, our Head of Enterprise and Innovation at the Council, who covered the trends in tourist numbers over the last few years, why they have changed, and what issues may affect these numbers in the future.

Visitor Accom Seminar3

The next speakers were Dr Mark Robertson of Ryden, Andrew Renouf of GVA and Ian Derrick of GVA who discussed the current state of the property market for this sector.

Visitor Accom Seminar6

This was followed by a discussion session with input from both industry and community representatives, on the topic of how to address the growth of visitor numbers in City Plan 2030, with a range of views given and discussed.

The final speaker was Keith Miller from our City Plan team who gave an outline of City Plan 2030 and how we will be involving more people in the discussion in the future.

Visitor Accom Seminar9

The event was closed by Councillor Lezley Cameron who rounded off the event and addressed a few key points and issues which came up.

cllrlez

Next year we intend to hold a further event on the subject of the retail and leisure sector. Watch this space! If you’d like to give us your own views on this subject, let us know in the comments, or email us at cityplan2030@edinburgh.gov.uk

World of work – Firrhill High School and planning

Last week, pupils from Firrhill High School, spent two days with the planning service to experience the range of work we do and to give us their ideas on what the city could be like in the future. The programme included:

Mapping how young people use the city
Sharing photos of their favourite places
Using the Place Standard to assess how the city works as a place for young people
A visit to the St James Centre redevelopment project
An exercise on what the issues will be for the next Local Development Plan and how best to engage young people

The feedback from the school was really positive, with the young people having the opportunity to learn more about the work of the planning service and the challenges for the city. It certainly has given us lots to think about for the next local development plan.

We were also delighted to hear that the group of pupils who visited us, won first place as part of the school’s business placement exercise.

Community Council training

June 2018

Presentations from the 14 June training on the Planning Performance Framework and the next Local Development Plan are available below.

February 2018

On 27 February we held Community Council training on three topics. The topics were chosen by the Community Councils and included planning enforcement, social media and tree protection. Thanks to everyone who came along and took part in the discussions. For information we have included links to the presentations below.

The next Community Council training is planned to take place on 14 June 2018, and will focus on the next Local Development Plan and how this will shape the future development of the City (see presentation above).

If you have any queries, or would like to suggest future topics for Community Council training, please get in touch with us at Planning.ServiceDelivery@edinburgh.gov.uk

Maps (again)

Apologies for the erratic nature of my blogging, but as the student in the office, I’m working on a whole range of topics which gives me the chance to experience lots of planning issues. I’m not just here to make tea! HOWEVER, I have (fortunately for you, reader) found the time to write and henceforth publish yet another blog post.

Emma’s blog post #3: Maps (again)

The City of Edinburgh Council’s brand new all singing, all dancing interactive Local Development Plan (LDP) Proposals Map

ELDP map.png — Just look at that colour coding

I apologise for that subtitle. Wasn’t very snappy. ANYWAY the map is actually very good. The new LDP was adopted at the end of November, and the map is now live. It shows the land allocations from the LDP, and the associated policies, so you can easily check which policies apply to your area (or your house, if you’re just having a nosey). You can click on your area/site (house), and all the policies pop up with links to the LDP document. Let’s use Leith as an example, because I may or may not live there.

eclp-leith — (This isn’t actually where I live)

Click somewhere on the map, and up pops a dialogue box where you can flick through the different categories that apply to the area. And hyperlinks are in there that take you straight to the written policies. It’s a pretty useful bit of kit. AND: it can be used on your mobile device, so you can check your policies on the go. You can flick through the different layers, there, on the right. Turn some off, turn more on. Whatever tickles your fancy. You can even scribble on it, or leave text boxes, if you were so inclined.

BUT WAIT! There’s more. There’s a whole “other” section on the layers list. Here, you can see data sets like “Education” and “Derelict and Vacant Land” etc etc. AND THEN you can map these onto different basemaps, to see what has changed over time.

blog-before-after-map

^^ That ^^ is all the “other” data, mapped onto an aerial picture of Edinburgh from 1940, and I think it shows quite well how things have changed since then. So some structures are the same, but some have transformed drastically… Like Leith Academy on top of what looks to have been a train depot?

So that’s that covered: New map for the LDP. Check it outtttt.

Feel free to leave a comment with any planning-related topics you would like to see covered in the blog – I’m open to suggestions (FYI: I’m obviously eager for my posts not to be about maps every time). I’ll try my best to enliven anything you suggest. I know some people think planning can be a bit dull… but I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s ALWAYS EXCITING.

Emma

19 June 2014 Planning Committee: second proposed Local Development Plan

Edinburgh is a successful, growing city but this brings a huge demand for places where people can live. At our meeting on 19 June 2014, the Planning Committee approved the Second Proposed Local Development Plan which has a clear aim of supporting the growth of the city economy and increasing the number of new homes being built. There will be an opportunity for people to formally comment on the Plan in August and I will ensure that this process is made as easy as possible.

74% of the homes in the Proposed Plan is expected to be built on brownfield land and the Committee has agreed to explore ways to bring these development sites forward and maximise the contribution they make to our housing supply. However, there is not enough brownfield land to meet the city’s housing need and the Plan does propose that some Green Belt land is released for development. There has been considerable objection to these proposals and the concerns of local communities were clearly in the mind of Committee members when coming to the decision. In particular, the potential impact on road junctions and congestion, as well as promoting the use of sustainable transport modes, are issues that we must take into account when moving forward.

Approving the Proposed Plan at the meeting gives the Council the best chance of preventing ad hoc green field developments in locations where we have no control. However, the Committee has asked that further analysis of a potential housing site to the west of Edinburgh Park is also undertaken.

All the Planning Committee reports, including the Capital Coalition motion, are available online.

Councillor Ian Perry

Convener of the Planning Committee