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Application form
Please make sure you have read all the notes carefully before you start to fill in the application form. This application form can either be completed by hand or electronically - it is available on the Planning homepage at www.scotland.gov.uk/planning. Please complete all five sections. The deadline for submitting applications is 27 August 2008. An acknowledgement letter will be sent to the person who has completed this form.
1 Please provide a name and contact details of the lead organisation responsible for this work.
Name | Richard Anderson |
Job title | Senior Project Manager |
Organisation | Scottish Water |
Address | Watermark, Alba Campus, Livingston, West Lothian, EH54 7HH |
Telephone | 07747 640148 / 01506 678000 |
Fax | 01506 469540 |
Email | richard.anderson@scottishwater.co.uk |
2 If this is a joint application, please list the other partners who had a key role. You should also inform your partners that you are nominating the project for an award.
3 Tick one nomination category
4 Title of entry | Delivering and Assessing Pre-Application Community Engagement |
Please complete the form on the following pages by providing a brief summary of the piece of work you have entered. You must also conclude with a key reason as to why you think this work merits an Award. Only the two A4 pages supplied here can be used and your text must fit within the boxes. The font size should be no less than 12pt.
The judging criteria are set out below. Please tick only the key criteria relevant to your entry:
You must describe how the project relates to the criteria which you have ticked.
Description of project
The multi-million pound Edinburgh Drinking Water Project is Scottish Water's ( SW) strategic solution to providing a cleaner, fresher water supply essential to the economic wellbeing of Scotland's capital city. Scottish Water's largest project to date also required the organisation's largest ever Public Consultation exercise. Given the project's importance SW commissioned Dundas & Wilson (D&W) to provide a detailed audit of Community Engagement as part of the planning application. |
Describe the background to the project
The Edinburgh project team made great efforts to learn the lessons from SW's Katrine Water Project in Glasgow, which experienced significant planning problems resulting in a second application and significant cost increases and time delays as a result. The previous project had failed to engage productively with its local community. The new project would require large planning applications at a time coinciding with the new emerging planning legislation. Project success was dependant on successfully navigating through the old system while applying the principles of the new system. |
What are the aims and objectives of the project?
A key objective was to achieve planning permission on a first pass basis. Previous experience confirmed the value of significant investment of thought and time into community engagement at the earliest possible stage. Other objectives were therefore to involve the wider community in a strategic options appraisal; to achieve a dialogue with community and other stakeholders; to gain public confidence through the openness and accessibility of the team; to maintain a record of consultation, demonstrating how views were taken into account in the final proposals. Underlying these was the aim of taking into account the spirit of the new Planning Bill/Act, and demonstrating this through an independent audit, confirming the robustness of our approach, an innovation for SW. |
Over what timescale has the project been developed?
Whilst the overall project has been developed over a 30 month period, this section of the project was split over 3 phases: - The Public Consultation phase lasted for 13 weeks from June to November 2006.
- The Pre-Application Community Engagement phase commenced in June 2007 and continued right through to submission of planning applications in February 2008
- The final phase, D&W's audit, took place between January/February 2008, concluding with the issue of their Audit Report to Council planners.
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Explain the process and action taken
Phase 1, strategic consultation with the public, sought views on the future of Edinburgh's water supply. Consultation packs and questionnaires were created, with on-Iine accessibility. Open days were hosted to support Community Council presentations. The loop was closed with a reporting and feedback phase. In Phase 2, a stakeholder manager and further resources were employed. Many sessions were held with the community in various locations. Comments were received, assessed, responded to and fed into the design and planning process. The community were delighted by SW's response to a Roman archeological find. Phase 3, the D&W audit, was an innovation which was shared with Council officers. |
Explain the role of the key partners
Scottish Water is the Developer. SW delivered the community consultation and pre-planning engagement. It provided the resources, the venues, the material and the feedback, including it's own project website, www.scottishwater.co.uk/glencorse. D&W's multi-disciplinary team were commissioned by SW, but worked independently to understand, assess and report on SW's Community Engagement Process measured against PAN 81. The community were partners in this process, they were active and supportive participants, especially in the pre-application phase. The Planning Submission was more robust and of a higher quality thanks to their input. |
What results were achieved?
Time spent pre-application proved to be time well spent. The planning application for Glencorse WTW, a major civil construction project and EIA development in Edinburgh's Green Belt, was determined and received planning permission just 10 weeks from application. In all, only 3 objections were received by planners for the Works and no Freedom of Information requests were received by SW. SW also achieved its own objective of delivering Best Practice Community Engagement as demonstrated by D&W's independent findings. We now have good continuing relationships with the Community as we move into the construction phase. |
In summary, why does this piece of work merit an Award?
This project is an excellent example of how investment in consultation and community involvement will pay dividends for our customers. The project proposals demonstrate how the quality and sustainability of a project can be improved through such processes thus achieving the aims of culture change underlying the 2006 Planning Act. SW as an organisation now understands the genuine rewards of Community Engagement. D&W helped SW identify further improvements for the future. The Audit is believed to be a unique tool to add rigour to the impending statutory requirements for a pre-application consultation report - a significant precedent for best practice in Scotland. |
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