Councillors welcome development of a Place Strategy and greater support for area working
Councillors have welcomed the development of a Place Strategy and greater support for area working across Aberdeenshire.
During a meeting of Full Council on Thursday (Jan 19), members heard that the forthcoming development of a Place Strategy will offer a new way of delivering council services in a more efficient, streamlined way.
As the region faces increasing challenges along with the rest of the country as we navigate economic uncertainty and experience the impact of global changes in the future, the need and opportunity for greater vision, clarity and collaboration in delivering outputs to communities has never been greater.
The ‘Place’ principle will be a way of bringing ideas about services, investments, resources and assets together under one roof and will include the development of Place Plans which are supported by legislation and will give communities a voice in shaping their locality.
While providing proposals for the development and use of land, they will also have an opportunity to influence the provision of local services and address socio-economic challenges and inequalities, along with delivering against the Aberdeenshire Local Outcome Improvement Plan priorities.
Councillors heard that Aberdeenshire’s places are all unique in their function, their communities and local economies with distinct provision of facilities, relationships to other places, characteristics, opportunities and challenges.
Town and village centres provide the physical heart of many of our communities, and they too have been impacted beyond expectation not just by the Covid pandemic but a seismic shift in consumer behaviour.
Reinforcing Aberdeenshire Council’s commitment to the Town Centre First Principle and extending it to recognise the important series of relationships between town centres and smaller centres is likely to feature in the Place Strategy.
Council Leader Cllr Mark Findlater said afterwards: “Aberdeenshire’s places are all unique in terms of their function, communities and local economies and they all have their own characteristics, opportunities and challenges. Our town and village centres provide the physical heart of many of our communities, and they too have been impacted beyond expectation not just by the Covid pandemic but a massive shift in consumer behaviour. I am confident that the Place Strategy reinforces Aberdeenshire Council’s commitment to the Town Centre First Principle and extends it to recognise the important series of relationships between town centres and smaller centres across the region.”
Council also welcomed the development of stronger Area Working which is intrinsically linked with a place-based approach to help deliver the strategic priority of resilient communities.
The Area Management Framework provides a structure, with the emphasis on supporting Area Working, which allows for cross service strategic and operational delivery across all six Aberdeenshire administration areas.
Deputy Leader Cllr Anne Stirling said: “Communities are at the heart of everything we do and the recently agreed Council Plan promotes local decision-making and empowers communities to influence, shape and contribute to the delivery of services with the full support of our six Area Teams. Our place-based approach provides an exciting opportunity for transformational change in how we work as a Council and how we work with the Aberdeenshire Community Planning Partnership which is also in the early stages of developing its own place-based strategy.”
Councillors also noted that Chief Executive Jim Savege used Urgent Special Powers to action a modification to ensure there was no further delay in the adoption of the Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan 2023. With regards to any future peat extraction, Scottish Ministers had instructed the Council to make a change in the wording to: ‘Commercial extraction of peat will only be permitted in those areas suffering historic, significant damage through human activity and where the conservation value is low and restoration is impossible’. The Chief Executive exercised the use of Urgent Special Powers following consultation with the Provost, Deputy Provost, and the Leader of the Opposition.