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Planning for Place

The Improvement Service’s Planning for Place Programme provides specific support to councils and their partners to collaborate in place-based approaches to joint planning, resourcing and delivery of places that enable all communities to flourish.

Why place matters?

Scotland faces significant inequalities, while navigating through the social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. We are now faced with an opportunity to create what we call a 'triple win' where our places enhance the wellbeing of our planet and our people, while reducing inequalities.

Every place is a different blend of physical, social and economic characteristics and needs that interact and influence each other. A successful place allows its communities to thrive. We need to ensure that our interventions to improve one of these characteristics doesn’t have unintended negative consequences on another which will push people further into poverty or negatively impact the planet.

What is a place-based approach?

Place-based working requires a joint working, collaborative approach that takes account of the unique blend of characteristics that exist in every place. By doing so it will identify and maximise the positive impact and reduce any unintended consequences of our actions. This approach enables better informed decisions leading to the delivery of more effective services and more resilient communities.

As no two places are the same, neither will any two place-based approaches be the same. Through this model we can identify and target the underlying causes of inequalities and disadvantage and implement solutions that are tailored to the individual challenges which face different places across Scotland. It's not about reinventing the wheel but building on peoples existing capabilities and strengthening our relationships.

With the shared input of all those responsible for providing services and looking after assets, we can identify the steps that need to be taken to overcome inequality and disadvantage. That joint input is the key to the success of place-based working and every effort must be made to ensure collaborative buy in to help realise our communities full potential.

Place-based working has different rationales and flexibility in what the approach entails. What is consistent is that:

  • it addresses complex problems that no one service working alone can solve
  • prevention is now regarded as a key feature of new approaches
  • approaches involve breaking down organisational silos and bringing sectors together around a shared ambition when designing and delivering services.

For local government this means councils working with partners to integrate services around the needs of people in a place, with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention. All aimed at reducing inequalities.

Coordinated place-based approaches can be applied at a range and scale of settings and circumstances be that in remote villages, towns, cities, regions or islands. Solutions need to deliver across the range of economic, physical and social outcomes and involve utilising available resources from across mainstream budgets.

Decision making in local government: Place and the Triple Wins. In this short video Irene Beautyman and Miriam McKenna explain how the decisions made about the places we live, work and play can bring benefits for health and wellbeing, for the climate, and for reducing inequalities.

Key approaches

Place and Wellbeing Outcomes

Place and Wellbeing Outcomes provide a consistent and comprehensive focus for where place impacts on the wellbeing of people and planet.

The Place Principle

The contribution place-based working has towards national performance outcomes, public health reform and achieving inclusive economies has led to the adoption of a Place Principle by Scottish Government and COSLA.

The principle requests that all those responsible for providing services and looking after assets in a place need to work and plan together, and with local communities, to improve the lives of people, support inclusive growth and create more successful places.

There is a challenge for local authorities in applying the Place Principle in terms of working differently. It promotes examining their own ways of thinking and working beyond distinct council areas or functions, and to make broader connections across sectors and crucially with community planning priorities.

The Place Standard

In addition to the Principle, the Place Standard tool provides a basis for a comprehensive conversation around place between all stakeholders with outputs that can shape priorities for collaborative working. The Place Standard Tool is a key enabler to place based working and thus to applying the Place Principle.

Place within policy and programmes

Many policy areas and developments have an increased focus on place. For instance:

  • Scotland’s Public Health Priorities
  • Islands (Scotland) Act
  • The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019
  • Scottish Government's Programme for Scotland 2020-21.

Support we offer

The Improvement Service Planning for Place Programme provides a range of support including:

  • Working with stakeholders to promote the role of places in delivering health and wellbeing including sitting on the Place and Wellbeing Collaborative
  • Working with stakeholders to promote and enable the use of the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes
  • Working with Public Health Scotland to assess 20 minute neighbourhood scenarios with local government and local health boards
  • Supporting local government to progress Scottish Government's ambition for 20 minute neighbourhoods. This includes an Elected Member Briefing Note
  • Elected member briefing sessions raising awareness of the role of place, place-based approaches and place making in service delivery
  • Community Planning Partnership and Officer Group awareness raising sessions on Place Standard Tool and Place Principle links
  • Iterative practitioner training support on the use of the Place Standard Tool in workshop settings. Cross function attendance is a key feature to promote a non-siloed approach to the use of the tool
  • Helping forge closer links between community planning and spatial planning, including national events and webinars that connect practitioners
  • Facilitating collaboration between IS-supported professional groups around their collective agendas. SLAEDHOPS and SCOTS (along with SOLACE and COSLA) identified place as one of their top three collective working priorities.
  • Working closely with Public Health Scotland and other health practitioners on the whole system delivery of all six public health priorities: particularly the Place priority.
Irene Beautyman - Place and Wellbeing Partnership Lead