Charrettes Prospectus by Douglas Wheeler

USING CHARRETTES TO HELP SHAPE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS: Austin-smith:Lord / DWA PROSPECTUS SEPTEMBER 2013 Introduction Derek Mackay, Minister for Planning and Local Government, recently announced £100,000 of funding in Scotland to support planning authorities to deliver design charrettes. The funding will be made available through grants in 2013-14 towards charrettes related to the preparation of Local Development Plans (LDPs). The fund will support planning authorities through grants covering up to 50% of the cost of charrette design fees. This new funding initiative is an extension of the Scottish Government’s (SG’s) Charrette Mainstreaming Programme. This Prospectus summarises the outcomes from two recent charrettes that Austin-Smith: Lord LLP / Douglas Wheeler Associates Ltd (A-S:L/DWA) facilitated in Johnstone South West and South Wishaw, as part of the SG’s Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative (SSCI) Mainstreaming Programme. Both charrettes were aiming to help shape Local Development Plans and in particular promote sustainable development and accommodate new housing. The A-S:L / DWA team included Transport Planning Limited, Ryden (property market), AECOM (ground conditions/hydrology/ engineering), WAVE (artists) and Neilson Partnership (cost planning). The Prospectus summarises the two different types of charrette, the main outcomes and a ‘planning tool’ that has been designed with North Lanarkshire Council that can be used to structure and add value to the ‘call for sites’ stage of a Local Development Plan.

JOHNSTONE SOUTH WEST The Johnstone South West Design Charrette was held between 1 and 5 November 2011 and sponsored by Renfrewshire Council (RC). This period of intensive activity for the A-S:L/DWA led design team comprising some 18 planners, architects, designers, artists, engineers, property specialists and others. They worked together over the five days and were based in the Design Studio at Spateston Bowling Club. This created a real buzz of creativity. Overall more than 300 people were involved in the charrette over the five days, including participation in nine facilitated workshops. Their participation generated very helpful feedback on matters of both principle and detail as the concepts and plans developed. The design team produced a series of structuring principle diagrams and around thirty iterative layout plans, undergoing ‘feedback loops’ based on working sessions with technical stakeholders, house builders, housing associations, the wider community and RC technical officers as part of the process.

TRANSFORMING JOHNSTONE SOUTH WEST MASTERPLAN: AIMS The ten year plus Masterplan presented on the final day of the charrette offers a once in a generation opportunity to better design and co-ordinate priorities to exploit the existing assets of Johnstone South West. The Masterplan uses distinctive place-mending to repair the existing built fabric, lower the area’s carbon footprint and promote green infrastructure. As a result, the Masterplan should unlock competitive development opportunities and transform Johnstone South West.

The Masterplan aims to provide for an attractive choice of quality housing within a connected network of thriving resilient local centres, in a healthy and sustainable environment. These will be inspiring environments: places with real character and a built environment that is inclusive.

The central purpose of the Masterplan was to establish a framework for the sustainable growth of Johnstone South West defined in Map 1 (see image top right), providing for the long term regeneration of the area. The Masterplan considers land use, character and form of development over the next ten years and beyond, taking into account the emerging development plan and the aspirations of local residents, businesses and key stakeholders.

New ‘District’ Centre Shared Campus School

Johnstone High School

Sports Hub

JOHNSTONE SOUTH WEST MASTERPLAN: DRIVING URBAN DESIGN PRINCIPLES The Masterplan is underpinned by a range of key design principles, informed by SG guidance, which address the issues and opportunities identified during the charrette. The executive summary and final report is available at http://www. scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/AandP/Projects/ SSCI/Mainstreaming/Johnstonerept Around 590 new residential units could be accommodated, mostly located within existing vacant or derelict brownfield sites. A wide variety of housing types should be available within each neighbourhood, to provide for residents of a range of ages, incomes and preferences. Ideally, neighbourhoods should allow residents to ‘age in place,’ with appropriate houses and flats available for families of different sizes. The scale of new investment allows for the strategic development of amenities, together with enhanced provision and improved quality of open space and water courses which could not be sustained by the development of small incremental housing developments. This includes encouraging bio-diversity, de-culverting and using innovative sustainable urban drainage systems to improve amenity and access to countryside. After the charrette, the principles of the masterplan have subsequently been progressed through the Local Development Plan and in the short term RC are investing in environmental improvements and progressing delivery of the masterplan. Developers and house builders however have been slow to bring forward investment to help realise the ambitions of the masterplan, principally due to prevailing market conditions.

Proposed Illustrative Masterplan - Johnstone South West

SOUTH WISHAW The South Wishaw project was programed to be shorter in duration, hence our reference to a ‘mini-charrette’. The mini-charrette focused on developing a spatial strategy for housing development for the South Wishaw area defined in Map 2 (see image bottom left). This was not to be a full public charrette and instead the aim was to engage with invited community representatives, council staff, land owners, housing developers and other stakeholders. The context for the mini-charrette was the North Lanarkshire Local Plan which was adopted in September 2012. The effectiveness of housing land allocations was raised as a key issue in the Examination of the Plan. At the time of its adoption the SG also raised concerns about housing and land supply issues in North Lanarkshire in particular about achieving a truly generous supply of genuinely effective housing land on a range of sites within each sub market area. North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) is now embarking on the preparation of its first LDP with a view to publishing the Main Issues Report in Autumn 2013. The Council was at the pre-Main Issues Report phase and wanted to develop and implement, an engagement strategy to encompass a wide range of stakeholders at all stages of the process but in a more collaborative way than that deployed under the previous legislative framework. The Council also intended to use the outcome of the minicharrette to facilitate a ‘Call for Sites’ consultation to provide an early opportunity for interested parties to suggest sites for development and/or have their use(s) changed. Housing development within the South Wishaw Community Growth Area (CGA) had also not taken place at the pace originally envisaged. Therefore NLC were also required to re-examine the effectiveness of land supply in the South Wishaw housing submarket area and the mini- charrette was seen as a key way to address this.

NEWMAINS

WISHAW

BOGSIDE WATERLOO

GOWKTHRAPPLE

SAMPLE SITES SITE 1: CGA @ Waterloo SITE 2: Auction Mart Site @ Caledonian Road / East Academy Street

“Boulevard” setting Site 4

Site access from Castlehill Road

SITE 3: East Thornlie Street

Possible landscape courts

OVERTOWN

SITE 4: Gowkthrapple Regeneration Site SITE 5: Castlehill Road Sites SITE 6a: South Newmains

Development phases interconnected

Tree planting and development aligned to minimise visual impact on Clyde Valley setting

Opportunity for SUDs to use site topography

SITE 6b: South Newmains

Development “feathered” into landscape

SITE 6c: East Morningside SITE 6d: Royal George Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of HMSO.

Emerging Illustrative Masterplan - South Wishaw

SOUTH WISHAW: MINI-CHARRETTE REQUIREMENTS The A-S:L/DWA led team were commissioned by SG in early March 2013 to facilitate the South Wishaw mini-charrette working with but independent of NLC officers. In summary the requirements of the mini-charrette process were to: • Identify clear parameters and criteria to identify genuinely effective housing sites with NLC, community representatives, housing developers and other key stakeholders. • Review current housing site allocations in the South Wishaw area in consultation with NLC, community representatives, housing developers and other key stakeholders. • Identify which sites in the current allocation are unlikely to be developed in the time period covered by the LDP or are unsuitable for development in terms of sustainability or design issues. • Consider the characteristics of other potential sites being put forward by developers/others as part of the minicharrette process and their suitability for inclusion in the development strategy, taking account of sustainability issues and their design potential. • Consider what would be an appropriate typology for development of the new and existing allocated sites to develop realistic assessments of the number and type of housing units that should be developed on each typical site. • Develop spatial strategy options for housing development in the submarket area which takes account of the delivery viability and is informed by the site characteristics. Nearly 70 people were involved over an intense and focussed two and half days (12/13/14 March 2013). The A-S:L/DWA led team used the mini-charrette to work up and tested a framework (see diagram on next page) based on the following four components in a sequential process: • Identifying and using five scenarios; • Agreeing eight appraisal criteria to test specific typical housing sites in South Wishaw; • Illustrating various housing development typologies for specific sites; • Identifying a preferred emerging spatial strategy. The charrette Executive Summary and Final Report are available on the SG website at; http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/AandP/ Projects/SSCI/Mainstreaming/South-Wishaw

SOUTH WISHAW MINI CHARRETTE OUTCOME: CALL FOR SITES The “Call for Sites” is a non-statutory phase in the preparation of a LDP that has become established bestpractice across Scotland. As a result of the mini charrette, NLC intend that the burden of justifying the inclusion of sites through the LDP should fall on those making the submissions. Therefore, a set of criteria and parameters has been formulated that will form the basis of a submission form. The criteria are based on those contained in the North Lanarkshire Local Plan and the outcome of the South Wishaw mini-charrette. The criteria have been tailored to establish the deliverability/effectiveness of housing and other types of proposals, such as industrial, business, and retail or leisure development. See link http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/ index.aspx?articleid=27305

LONG LIST OF SITES

No. of sites Housing Land Audit

Vacant + Derelict Land Survey

Sites not pursued in local plan

Report of Examination

Industrial land supply

Other sites

COMPONENT C: Illustrating Various Housing Development Typologies

SAMPLE SITE APPRAISAL

COMPONENT A: FIVE PLANNING SCENARIOS

SITE “TRAFFIC LIGHT” TEST

SAMPLE SITES

1: Community Growth Area

SITE 1: CGA @ Waterloo SITE 2: Auction Mart Site @ Caledonian Road / East Academy Street

2: Community Growth Area: Technically Constrained

SITE 3: East Thornlie Street

3: Urban Area Wishaw: Windfall Sites

SITE 4: Gowkthrapple Regeneration Site

4: Dispersed Sites Outside Wishaw Urban Area

SITE 6a: South Newmains

SITE 5: Castlehill Road Sites

SITE 6b: South Newmains

COMPONENT D: EMERGING SPATIAL STRATEGY

SITE 6c: East Morningside

5: Housing Cluster Sites Within Maturing Woodland

SITE 6d: Royal George

1. Ownership & Locational Criteria 2. Policy Built & Natural Environment Protection 3. Technical Constraints 4. Infrastructure & Remedial Work 5. Marketability 6. Supporting Existing Communities 7. Community Infrastructure & Local Employment 8. Sustainability & Green Networks

COMPONENT B: Appraisal Criteria 1. Ownership & Locational Criteria Can the site be developed in period under consideration?

2. Policy Built & Natural Environment Protection

Is there a positive plot value?

3. Technical Constraints

How does the site sit in the hierarchy of locations / sites: ₋₋ Prime ₋₋ Mature ₋₋ Sustainable ₋₋ Regeneration ₋₋ Market failure

4. Infrastructure & Remedial Work 5. Marketability

Power Lines Railways Roads Mining Issues Contamination Natural Heritage Topography

6. Supporting Existing Communities 7. Community Infrastructure & Local Employment 8. Sustainability & Green Networks

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS The Johnstone South West and South Wishaw charrettes were very different types of event but a number of similar conclusions can be drawn namely: • The charrette approach should be set in the context of widening social engagement in governance at different levels but there is a need to distinguish consultation against genuine shared decision making for example involving negotiation; • Independent organisation and facilitation of the charrette is crucial to establishing credibility and the choice of venue is critical; • The charrette provides an ideal forum for council departments, councillors, statutory agencies, stakeholders including land owners developers and residents/businesses to talk to each other; • The process can challenge preconceptions and fixed ideas as part of exploring the spatial implications of different thematic land use issues and policies; • The charrette can really progress discussions and move to a consensus on a way forward; • Wider ownership of solutions can emerge and in some cases typical confrontational attitudes between residents and developers can be defused; • A charrette is a relatively quick way of generating a design solution using skills, aptitudes and interests of a diverse group of people, although it is important to manage expectations. Overall an appropriate charrette can be a very useful tool in assisting in the preparation of LDPs and in particular exploring particular land use themes and allocations. The ‘call for sites’ criteria and parameters that were prepared in North Lanarkshire could be applied in other local authority areas and for other land use types. There is now an opportunity to build on the work of the LDP-focused charrettes through the SG’s third year of grant aid to suitable project proposals. If you are interested in discussing any of the issues raised in this Prospectus, using charrettes as part of the LDP process or the ‘call for sites’ criteria and parameters, please contact Graham Ross or Doug Wheeler.

Contacts: Graham Ross Austin-Smith:Lord LLP E: graham.ross@austinsmithlord.com T: 0141 223 8500 Doug Wheeler Douglas Wheeler Associates E: mail@douglaswheelerassociates.com T: 01505 871975