Susan Rintoul of the National Planning Improvement team reflects on the past few months developing the National Planning Improvement Framework and plans for its pilot.
It’s been a busy few months for the National Planning Improvement team, we have been focusing on developing the new National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF).
In February we published the findings from the ‘call for ideas’ which took place last year. The findings from this helped us to develop the ‘12 attributes of a high performing planning authority’. They are split into five themes, covering the resources and people needed, the right tools to do the job, effective engagement, developing a positive culture and having ambitions to deliver quality places. Through this the new framework aims to better measure how planning authorities improve, and the attributes form the basis of the self-assessment part of the new NPIF.
Our first task was to consider how the 12 attributes can be measured. Through conversations with partners, we have developed several ‘contributing factors’ that sit behind them. Testing these factors will be the focus of the first cohort. The new process aims to use this as a stimulus for identifying areas of improvement, which will result in an improvement action plan.
Another key part of the new NPIF is the peer collaborative review, which will involve a workshop aiming to provide constructive challenge on the improvement action plan. Each planning authority has been paired with another, to provide a critical friend role, and other partners and stakeholders will be invited to a workshop to allow for a balance of considered perspectives. The NPIF aims to recognise the dependencies that planning authorities have in delivering their services and looks to stimulate conversation with the organisations and stakeholders it works with.
We have been developing the NPIF with the High Level Group on Planning Performance (which includes, Scottish Government, COSLA, Heads of Planning Scotland, SOLACE, Key Agencies Group, SOLAR and the Royal Town Planning Institute). It was agreed that we would pilot the new framework across 2024/25 in three cohorts. We are happy to share that we have had 10 volunteers for cohort 1 they are:
- Aberdeenshire Council
- East Ayrshire Council
- East Lothian Council
- City of Edinburgh Council
- Fife Council
- Glasgow City Council
- North Lanarkshire Council
- Renfrewshire Council
- Scottish Borders Council
- Stirling Council
We see the pilot as an opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t. We are keen to involve all the planning authorities and other stakeholders in the piloting to ensure the framework will be a success.
We’ve now met with all 10 planning authorities in cohort 1 and will be keeping in contact throughout the next three months as they go through the process. We have shared the guidance and supporting documents for cohort 1 on our webpages.
Our next steps will be reflecting on the learning for this cohort and preparing for cohort 2. We have asked the remaining planning authorities to let us know which future cohort they would like to participate in.