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It has been confirmed that the National Planning Improvement Champion in the Improvement Service (IS) is to host the new National Planning Improvement Hub for Scotland.
IS writes:
The National Planning Improvement Champion is responsible for monitoring the performance of planning authorities and providing advice to them (and others) on what steps might be taken to improve their performance. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 formalised how to measure and report on planning authorities’ performance and support planning authorities to improve. The role of a national improvement coordinator was included as part of that.
Working with all organisations involved in planning, the National Planning Improvement Champion aims to ensure that:
- the planning system enables the delivery of sustainable, liveable and productive places
- planning services are equipped to work effectively and efficiently, embedding continuous improvement
- users are able to engage constructively with the planning system and planning service
Key activities of the Champion include:
- establishing a performance management model and self-assessment process for planning authorities
- supporting planning authorities to identify areas for improvement and working with them to address these
- identifying strategic challenges facing the planning system and working with stakeholders to address them
- working with other to identify, share and support people and organisations to implement good practice
- publishing an annual report.
The establishment of the hub was announced in the Programme for Government to build capacity and resilience in the planning system, and to improve consistency and efficiency in decision?making. Its initial priority will be to help planning authorities make quicker decisions on hydrogen planning applications, with a plan to support wider developments including good quality homes and onshore wind. The hub will assemble specialist expertise and deploy this to support planning services and will work with them to support the sharing of expertise and learning amongst authorities. It will also develop tools and resources to highlight good practice and help planning authorities to use these to improve their practice through learning through events and networking.
The hub is funded by Scottish Government, meaning there will be no direct costs to planning authorities. The National Planning Improvement Champion will host and coordinate the hub’s work and will be supported initially by staff from Scottish Government, key agencies and other partner organisations. Its work will be guided and supported by Scottish Government, COSLA, Heads of Planning Scotland, SOLACE, other members of the High Level Group on Planning Performance, and by industry. Preparatory work on establishing the Hub has already commenced with initial scoping and recruitment in place. It will continue to full set up at pace.
