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Survey of planning websites in Scotland
SECTION 4 KEY FINDINGS - THE STRUCTURE PLAN WEBSITES
4 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: THE STRUCTURE PLAN WEBSITES
4.1 As a pilot to test the new Pendleton Structure Plan Criteria, two structure plan websites in Scotland were surveyed against a set of 11 criteria. The website factors selected were based on the original 21 Pendleton Criteria but modified to reflect the roles and responsibilities of joint structure plan teams, which include the preparation, consultation and monitoring of the joint structure plan and providing feedback about strategic planning applications as part of the application consultation process.
4.2 The survey looked at the Ayrshire Joint Structure Plan and the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan. Both of these are governed by joint committees of the constituent local authorities and have dedicated staff, offices and websites. The Ayrshire Joint Structure Plan site met 10 of the criteria, and the Glasgow & Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan site met 6. See Appendix 2 for a breakdown of the scores.
4.3 Both the Ayrshire and the Glasgow & Clyde Structure Plan websites had their Joint Structure Plan text and Key Diagrams available to view online: The Ayrshire plan was dated 1999 and the Glasgow & Clyde Valley plan was dated 2000. Glasgow & Clyde Valley's website also has the Strathclyde Structure Plan from 1995 online.
4.4 Neither of the Structure Plan Key Diagrams were interactively linked to the Structure Plan Policy.
4.5 At the time of testing the Ayrshire website had the facility to enable members of the public to submit online representations about the forthcoming Structure Plan, due to be completed in 2005. Representations could be submitted via email or feedback form. The Glasgow & Clyde Valley (G&CV) website did not enable online consultation at the time of testing. However, it should be noted that the G&CV Structure Plan was adopted in 2000 and the consultation period for the Plan is therefore closed. The structure plan team have confirmed that during the consultation period the facility to submit application representations electronically was available. They would therefore have scored for this criterion at that time.
4.6 The Ayrshire and the Glasgow & Clyde Valley Structure Plan websites provided a good level of information relating to the monitoring of the Structure Plan process. The G&CV Structure Plan website included a downloadable statement of publicity and consultation, a variety of technical reports, a report about matters under review, issues reports and consultation drafts. The Ayrshire Structure Plan website included a projected timetable for the adoption of the Structure plan and downloadable copies of issues leaflets, summaries of comments and representations, consultation drafts and background documents.
4.7 Both Structure Plan websites had a publications page that allowed users to order copies of the Structure Plan documentation electronically. The Ayrshire publications page included an online order form. Glasgow & Clyde Valley's publications page was being updated at the time of the survey but an email address was listed to enable document orders to be placed online.
4.8 The Ayrshire Structure Plan website presented a list of 'strategic planning consultations' under the 'Structure Plan' menu tab. The list includes the weekly applications lists from each partner authority and a list of applications that had been referred from the local authorities to the Team for their comment.
4.9 The Ayrshire Structure Plan website enabled the user to download recent and archived committee papers for the joint committee. Copies of meeting minutes and agendas dating back to 2000 could be viewed online and a schedule of joint committee meetings was listed for the next year.
4.10 Both the Glasgow & Clyde and the Ayrshire Structure Plan websites enabled the user to access links to the websites of their constituent local authorities. Ayrshire listed them under a link entitled 'useful links page'. Glasgow & Clyde Valley listed them with an illustrative map in the website's introduction pages.
4.11 Both Structure Plan websites also had links to other relevant bodies - for example, the Scottish Executive, Communities Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, The Health and Safety Executive, Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Enterprise.
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