national consistency and local flexibility – can we have both?

greenspace scotland has been working during 2010/11 with three Scottish local authorities (Fife, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire) to support the development of open space standards in line with the requirements of Scottish Planning Policy. Our aim is to identify which elements of a standard might be consistent between authorities and which elements will only work if there is enough flexibility to accommodate local circumstances.

This project has developed from our national mapping work and our earlier research into the experiences of authorities developing Open Space Strategies (OSS).

During the project, a model for standards has emerged from Fife Council’s Open Space Strategy and their Local Development Plan work in Lochgelly (and also informed by Lochgelly’s involvement in the Scottish Sustainable Community Initiative). The model appears to meet all the requirements that we set at the beginning of the process and has the added benefit that, unlike earlier attempts at setting greenspace and open space standards for new developments, it takes account of the nature and condition of the area around proposed developments.

We have explored the Fife model with our colleagues in the other two councils and they are now moving forward with their own versions of the model. The draft standards from each council area will be going out for wider consultation as part of the relevant Local Development Plans and Open Space Strategies.

We shared information on the emerging standards development framework with a number of other local authorities in September 2011. This session identified a series of ‘next steps’ that are required:

1. test the framework in a city or large town (to look at the implications of how settlements or neighbourhoods are defined)
2. compare the outputs of the framework to adopted standards developed using other approaches
3. develop guidance on the best ways to align open space standards with existing specialist/typology specific standards; other spatial priorities and planning guidance (including parks hierarchies; design guidance and demand-led provision recommendations)
4. produce a full report for publication and dissemination through a sharing practice event

We are now planning work for 2012/13 which will address these ‘next steps’ as part of a wider programme of guidance on open space strategies.

The interim report can be downloaded here.

A full report on developing open space standards will be produced later in 2012.