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PLANNING, LAND, INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT
WORKGROUP BRIEFING
Conference Themes Homes and Places
Housing and Regeneration Outcomes - A well-functioning housing system, High quality
sustainable homes, Homes that meet people’s needs, Sustainable communities
Introduction
The Scottish Government has held eight round table discussions on a variety of housing
topics. A number of overlapping issues have arisen, primarily to do with behavioural change,
community engagement and customer focus. The action areas in this work brief came
directly from discussions around supply and how we enable the building and regeneration of
new homes and places. Key themes from the debate are: The availability of effective housing land and the speed of delivery of new housing in
the right place are difficult issues and require joint management within our housing
and planning systems.
 We have a national plan led system using the Strategic and Local Development Plan
process which can provide the balance between recognising the rights of existing
communities and the need for consents to build and regenerate new homes and
places.
 Good design is not just about physical buildings, it is a process – listening, problem
solving and focussing on outcomes
 The mismatch between supply and demand manifests itself in boom/bust housing
cycles, such that predictability in the market – required to attract investors and
communities – seems a very difficult objective at times.
 Key influences on timing, price and conditions for new development relate to the
volatility of land prices, issues about use of uplifts in value and the role of private
landowners and others, including those with options over land.
 Building a house is a capital intensive activity and a lack of finance – public and
private – can affect the delivery of new homes.
 Given current mortgage market conditions, many home builders only build to order,
and there are issues about financing substantial infrastructure investment even to the
extent of roads and services.
 The use of s75 obligations and other ways of unlocking community benefits through
the planning system may discourage development if not deployed flexibly and
realistically in local areas.
 One reason that supply is not meeting demand is the shortage of effective ways to
fund large scale infrastructure. There is also a perception that current planning, roads
and building standards requirements are adding to costs..
 Many people who would in the past have liked to buy a home or rent a housing
association or local authority home can’t do so now. Encouraging the private rented
sector to meet the gap is important along with any support which makes it possible to
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build new homes while balancing planning for assets that will be with us for at least
100 years.
Policy Links
Homes fit for the 21st Century http://www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2011/02/03132933/0
Planning http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0045/00453827.pdf
Place making http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/06/9811/5
Land Reform Review Group http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0045/00451087.pdf
RICS Report http://www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/what-we-do/influencing-policy/influencingactivity/thought-leadership-papers/the-rics-scottish-housing-commission-report-building-abetter-scotland/
Audit Scotland Report http://www.auditscotland.gov.uk/docs/local/2013/nr_130711_housing_overview.pdf
Action Area One - How can planners, developers and public sector providers
improve effective long term planning for housing and people and the design of
places and communities ?
Do public and private agencies need to give master planning for whole communities, as part
of the development plan process, the same priority as designing the type, tenure and quality
of housing provided in planning applications ? What lessons can we learn from the Scottish
Sustainable Communities Initiative to build on ?
Are public and private sectors working effectively together and how can we jointly identify
improvements ?
Action Area Two - Do we have a well- functioning, effective, housing land
supply in Scotland ?
A current Scottish Government led working group is looking at the 2010 definition of
effectiveness to ensure that sites in development plans are deliverable. What factors need to
be taken into account to get to an agreed definition of effective land between the public and
private sectors ?
Action Area Three - How can public and private interests work more
collaboratively in land assembly and site development measures ?
Can we jointly collaborate on the unlocking of brownfield sites and public sector assets to
deliver housing land in the places that it is needed ?
Measures to accelerate development of housing land may include tax incentives, penalties
for non-development within realistic timescales, or more use of Compulsory Purchase
Orders. What else can the public and private sectors do to accelerate more sites into
development ?
Action Area Four – How do we promote site specific housing investment
action plans to ensure viable proposals to develop housing sites ?
Action plans linked to development plans could identify realistic resources to deliver
proposed housing projects.
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These plans could outline what resources are available to deliver investment, who is
providing the investment and the return to the private and public sectors.
How can these action plans be improved to deliver housing development more uniformly and
at what stage – local plan stage or when developers are at the point of submitting a major
application?
Action Area Five - Is there current good practice in relation to housing
infrastructure investment that we can promulgate and disseminate ?
As well as public investment such as the Scottish Government’s Housebuilding Infrastructure
Loan Fund, can we use good practice in private sector collaboration where working together
has enabled major projects to proceed such as the Commonwealth Games Village ?
What can we jointly do to encourage collaborative models ?
Should these interventions include joint funding of feasibility initiatives and local land banking
investment, possibly linked to community asset acquisitions, using pilots to build on good
practice ?
Action Area Six – How can we work together to make “s75’s” and the consents
process more effective ?
The scope of s75 planning agreements is tightly drawn and development site specific. The
current improvement programme for planning authorities needs new momentum to improve
operation of the process to reduce avoidable delays. How could conditional planning
consents be more effective? What work is being done by Government and others to examine
the feasibility of multiple consents being obtained at the one time – ie road construction
consents, building warrant and services consents?
What are the obligations on the development community to provide good quality timeous
applications and how can public agencies encourage good practice ?
Action Area Seven - How can we link housing to economic development and
jobs ?
The Enterprise agencies engage with national and local house builders, housing
associations and local authorities to understand the general economic impacts of new supply
housing, to encourage inward investment and support for the construction industry. How can
we link this resource into the development of places and communities ? Are small and
medium sized builders fully engaged as a resource to deliver jobs and housing ? Are
agencies investing enough in new building technologies, education, design innovation and
products to gain supply advantage ?
Action Area Eight - New types of housing and delivery - how do we promote
them ?
How do we promote flexible multi generation homes – the right products in the right place at
the right price – affordable /social rents and reasonable house prices - through planning and
design ? Can we use good examples of new communities and regeneration areas to
illustrate the benefits and opportunities ? Are there new methods of supply such as selfbuild, co-design and custom build that could be used to develop homes and places ?
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