Edinburgh’s planning Convener Councillor Ian Perry is the Chair of an organisation called SESPlan which includes six councils from across the Edinburgh City Region. The six are charged with producing a Strategic Development Plan for the area.
A report outlining future challenges including population growth, housing shortages and environmental concerns is to be considered for approval by the SESplan Joint Committee this Friday, 29 May.
The report will then be published on the SESPlan site and all six local authority sites in the first stage in the preparation of the region’s second Strategic Development Plan, which will impact on future housing development, jobs and investment.
The Edinburgh Reporter spoke to Councillor Perry and also to Councillor Stuart Bell who is Vice-Convener of the SESPlan committee about the statutory process:
The next step for the Main Issues Report is ratification by each of the member authorities (the City of Edinburgh Council, East, Mid and West Lothian, Scottish Borders and Fife) before the official consultation period runs from 21 July to the 15 September 2015.
Over this period SESplan invites comments from members of the public on the options in the report.
Further details on how to get involved will be made available shortly. Updates will be published on the SESplan website, following @sesplan on Twitter or visiting their Facebook page.
Cllr Ian Perry, Chair of the SESplan Committee, said: “The Main Issues Report sets out the most important challenges Edinburgh and the South East of Scotland is facing such as population growth, housing shortages and environmental sustainability. We need to manage economic growth while protecting the region’s unique environment. It is a consultation document and gives the opportunity for scrutiny, and feedback, on how best to plan for the future. We need to question preconceived ideas, explore new ones and investigate imaginative solutions to the challenges posed by the Region’s success.”
[tweet_box design=”default”]“I would encourage everyone interested in shaping the future of the Region to take the opportunity to tell us which option you think will best plan for future growth. It is crucial that we hear views from across all the local authority areas to ensure that the Strategic Development Plan has been scrutinised and informed by the as wide an audience as possible.”[/tweet_box]
The purpose of SESplan is to create a Strategic Development Plan, a planning document covering the whole of the Edinburgh City Region.
It is an important planning document as it is used to inform the Local Development Plan for each local authority area. It focuses on long-term strategic level planning matters which cross local authority boundaries such as housing, economic growth, green networks and infrastructure.
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