Development plans hold back recovery

Tony is absolutely correct in his analysis that some of these plans are perpetuating an approach first formulated pre-recession, and have failed to move with the times. Focusing on brownfield land with high development costs, on the assumption that developers will pay these costs and also provide public amenities such as schools, might have worked five years ago but is now a broken model of development.

But the plans we see emerging for the Glasgow and Edinburgh regions in particular take no account of the need to identify land with lower overhead costs to ensure that houses can be built and jobs created.

Graeme Buchan of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Strategic Plan Authority is factually correct when he states that his authority has consulted widely and spoken to many interested parties, including the home building industry. The problem is the authority simply hasn’t listened to any views which don’t accord with its own.

As written, the strategic plans for the Central Belt of Scotland will hold back development rather than support it to assist the recovery of the ailing Scottish economy.

Blair Melville, head of planning strategy, Homes for Scotland, Edinburgh