In Parliament

Topday, I asked the Scottish Government whether it will consider reviewing the planning guidance provided to local authorities relating to issuing a call for ideas/sites when undertaking their statutory requirement to prepare a 10-year local development plan.

This has local importance. The Scottish Government local development plan guidance includes a reference to a call by councils for ideas or sites, including “for development sites or types of development e.g. housing.”.

In practice, landowners and developers are given an early opportunity to influence the development of a plan. A potential developer has used a call for sites to put a large-scale housing development on a green-belt site at Blackhill Road in Summerston, here in our constituency. It had been rejected previously for very good reasons.

I asked the Scottish Government to consider how guidance could be improved to give a greater voice to communities at the earliest stage.

I know that many of my constituents want to see local brownfield sites developed and the green belt protected; they would wish a development plan to reflect that very thing.