Local Place Plans

The Planning (Scotland) Act was passed in July 2019 and makes changes to how land is developed and used. The Act sets out a way for communities to feed into the planning system called local place plans (LPPs). LPPs are prepared by communities and highlight local priorities for development.

Below are some resources which should introduce what local place plans are.

• Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) has an online guide exploring the role that community-led action plans (CAPs) and local place plans (LPPs) play in enabling communities to have more influence over what development can happen in their area. Click here to visit the guide on SCDC’s website.

• The Local Place Plans ‘How to’ Guide is set out in four main sections which take people stage by stage through a Local Place Planning process. Click here to download the guide as a PDF.

• The primary legislation governing Local Place Plans can be found in Section 14 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.  

• Secondary legislation governing Local Place Plans is contained in the The Town and Country Planning (Local Place Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. 

• Guide for community delivery of Local Place Plans prepared by Planning Aid Scotland.  

• The Scottish Government’s Our Place website has information about Local Place Plans and other place-related initiatives. 

• Official guidance for communities and Scottish Government Planning circular 1/2022: Local Place Plans provides guidance to communities and planning authorities on the preparation, submission and registration of Local Place Plans.

• A blog by Nick Wright of Nick Wright Planning on how local place plans should involve a wide range of local people and organisations. The blog contains an example of what a local place plan can look like from Moffat and Beattock. Click here to read Local place planning: is this what the Planning Review envisaged?

• Search for more items directly related to local place plans on Communities Channel Scotland. Click here to start searching.

Related information

• Community-led action plans are a way for communities to take the lead in understanding how they feel about where they live, helping to inform good decision making and better support for communities. Argyll & Bute Council commissioned Scottish Community Development Centre to develop a toolkit for community-led action planning. Click here to view the toolkit website.

• Development Trust Assocation Scotland has a quick guide to different forms of place plans which takes you into more detailed guides to each approach. View on DTAS’s website.

• See more about place-based approaches on Communities Channel Scotland