How we prepared our Local Development Plan

It took several years to produce the Local Development Plan (LDP), and the process involved a number of key stages which are summarised below.

Evidence and information gathering

The LDP is informed by a suite of studies which are updated and revised regularly throughout the Plan preparation and implementation process. You can find the most up to date information by visiting LDP background research & information.

Call for sites 

As part of our initial consultation to gather information, we asked communities and businesses to help us identify any land-use planning issues and potential sites for development. This process ran for a period of 10 weeks and we prepared a report to summarise the Call for sites (PDF, 6 MB) responses.

Main Issues Report 

This is the key consultation stage within the Plan preparation process; an opportunity for communities and other key stakeholder to voice their opinion and shape the LDP.

We published a Main Issues Report (PDF, 7 MB) in 2015 which showed future development options in Perth and Kinross and set out what we believed the key land use related challenges were in the area. We held a consultation, including a series of drop in events throughout Perth and Kinross during this time to collect feedback on this report. A full set of reports on the responses received during this public consultation can be seen here:

• MIR responses - questions (PDF, 686 KB) 
• MIR responses - policies (PDF, 223 KB) 
• MIR responses - other comments (PDF, 251 KB) 

Additional consultation in Kinross-shire & Dunning

In 2016, we consulted further on potential development sites in Dunning, Crook of Devon/Drum, Blairingone and Rumbling Bridge in order to gauge the possible wider community benefits they might bring, and the community feedback on them. More information on these consultations can be found below:

• Kinross-shire sites
• Dunning

Proposed Local Development Plan 

Building on the Main Issues Report stage, we prepared the Proposed Local Development Plan (2017):

• Part 1: Introduction, Vision & Policies (PDF, 10 MB) 
• Part 2: Settlement Statements (A - I) (PDF, 18 MB)
• Part 3: Settlement Statements (J - Z) (PDF, 16 MB)
• Part 4: Glossary & Appendices (PDF, 4 MB) 

The Proposed Plan set out the Council's settled view as to how the development of Perth & Kinross could and should occur and what the area might look like in the future.

We published the Proposed Plan for consultation in 2017 and received over 700 comments. These comments were reviewed by officers and we set out what changes the Council would like to make in response to the representations.

Examination 

The comments on the Proposed Plan as well as the Council's response to these were reviewed by an Independent Reporter from the DPEA who made recommendations on what changes should be made to the Proposed Plan. All the above is set out in the Examination Report (PDF, 3 MB) and the Reporter's findings are summarised in the Recommendations table (PDF, 195 KB). The Council was largely bound by the recommendations in this report and amended the LDP in line with the recommendations unless there was a justifiable reason for not accepting some of them. 

Adoption 

The new LDP was adopted by the Council on 29 November 2019. The previous Local Development Plan (PDF, 27 MB), adopted in 2014, has been superseded.

Strategic Environmental Assessment & Habitats Regulation Appraisal

The Council is required to undertake Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) at various stages of the preparation of the Local Development Plan to consider any significant environmental effects, including on designated European sites.

At the Main Issues Report stage, the Council prepared an Environmental Report (PDF, 30 MB) and Appendix E (PDF, 46 MB) to consider any likely significant environmental effects from proposed development sites and policy options.  

Alongside the Proposed LDP, the following SEA documents were published as part of the consultation:

• Addendum to the Environmental Report (2017) (PDF, 7 MB)
• Appendix A (PPS) (PDF, 569 KB)
• Appendix B (Baseline) (PDF, 10 MB)
• Appendix C (Site Assessment Template) (PDF, 394 KB)
• Appendix D (Consultation authority comments & responses) (PDF, 393 KB)
• Appendix E (Site Assessments) -  
  • Site assessments checklist (PDF, 557 KB)
  • LDP1 sites update (PDF, 833 KB)
  • Perth area (A-G) (PDF, 18 MB)
  • Perth area (H-Z) (PDF, 13 MB)
  • Highland area (PDF, 10 MB)
  • Kinross-shire area (PDF, 12 MB)
  • Strathearn area (PDF, 11 MB)
  • Strathmore area (PDF, 13 MB).
• Appendix F (policy assessment) (PDF, 596 KB)
• Appendix G (Settlement Boundaries)
  • Perth area (PDF, 7 MB)
  • Highland area (PDF, 5 MB)
  • Kinross-shire area (PDF, 4 MB)
  • Strathearn area (PDF, 3 MB)
  • Strathmore area (PDF, 3 MB).

The Council then prepared a Post examination SEA update (PDF, 1 MB) which considered the potential for any significant environmental effects associated with the Reporter's recommendations and subsequent modifications to the Plan. Following the adoption of the Plan, the Post Adoption Statement (PDF, 236 KB) was approved by SP&R Committee on 25 November 2020. 

A Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) including Appropriate Assessment (AA) (PDF, 3 MB) was undertaken for the Adopted Local Development Plan and the record of these processes was published in May 2018, with an Addendum (PDF, 348 KB) then produced in September 2019 to update the record to reflect the recommendations contained in the LDP examination report.