Planning to support economic development - opportunity or threat?

These proposals will require local authorities to ensure that planning strategies and decisions promote productivity, competitiveness and job creation and urge councils to avoid designating sites for single or restricted use to allow adaptation to changes in the local economy.

As a result of this new policy, regional and local planning bodies will support economic development by ensuring that they understand and take into account what their economies need to remain competitive and responsive to the needs of business, and factor in the benefits of economic development alongside environmental and social factors.

Planning bodies are expected to develop a robust evidence base to underpin decisions and ensure a flexible and responsive approach to providing for the needs of business by making better use of market information to inform both plans and decision making.

The current case of Donald Trump's proposal to develop a world class golf course (with substantial associated hotel, holiday and residential buildings!) seems a case where little market evidence was available or used to trade-off economic with environmental considerations of an SSSI in fragile sand dunes. Rejection followed by a call in by the Scottish Government seem to have brought the planning system into disrepute in adapting to meet existing businesses explicit support for this project.

See; DCLG Consultation Paper for Sustainable Economic Development December 2007