The aim of the Scottish Government’s Digital Planning programme is ‘For Scotland to have a world leading digital planning system that helps connect people with their places to deliver a prosperous, green and fair country’. Scotland’s Digital Strategy for Planning provides more information on the strategic aims and timescales of the programme.
At the Improvement Service, we are working in partnership with Scottish Government to provide data support for the Digital Planning programme. This work is building on the existing content of the Spatial Hub, understanding how the national datasets that we collate can be utilised most effectively for a digital planning service.
Recently we have been working on Discovery and Alpha phases of the Smart Applications and Gateway projects, assessing the quality and completeness of the data we hold ahead of its use in these new systems. Datasets that will be required include:
- Local Development Plans
- Housing and Employment Land Supplies
- Conservation Areas
- Tree Preservation Orders.
We are also currently undertaking exploratory work on our new Planning Applications and Building Warrants datasets, which are collected from Scotland’s planning authorities and updated weekly using an automated process. Each dataset has over one million records, and there are numerous potential ways this rich data could be used innovatively to aid both the Digital Planning programme and other projects across the planning and data sectors.