Work progresses on Caithness & Sutherland Local Development Plan

20th May 2013

A further step was taken yesterday towards a new Caithness and Sutherland Local Development Plan – CaS Plan - following a decision made at the Area Committee to issue a Call for Sites over the summer, urging communities to identify land for future development and areas they want to see protected.

The Committee members were also looking at ways of taking forward the outcomes from the Wick and Thurso Charrettes, which will help shape the CaS Plan. This Plan, which covers the area of Highland stretching from Dornoch to Durness and Wick to Lochinver , will- along with the Highland-wide Local Development Plan -l guide future decisions on planning applications for the area.

Following yesterday’s decision, initial meetings will take place in Wick and Thurso before the end of June to look further at the projects that were identified at the Charrettes held in February, to identify which could be community-led, and which projects might be led by the Council or developers. They will also give people a chance to say which projects have the highest priority and set out actions for a series of further meetings.

Leader of the Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee, Councillor Deirdre Mackay said: “It’s been great to see people get involved in planning the future of their town and surrounding area and the outcome of the Charrettes highlights the community's aspirations for new development, regeneration and improvement. It is our job now to work with the community to help make these visions a reality.

“Communities across the rest of Caithness and those across Sutherland will be given opportunities in the coming months to put forward their ideas for their future. We will soon be asking landowners and communities across the whole of Caithness and Sutherland to let us know what land they wish to see developed or protected in the future. It is important to make sure that we have good sites identified in the right areas to enable places to be enhanced and to grow. We will also be looking to use techniques from the charrettes to encourage community participation as well as to improve people’s opportunity to but forward their ideas and for them to see the ideas contribute to the emerging plan.”

“The Council will prepare a Main Issues Report for CaS Plan which will set out what we think are the best options for development and give reasonable alternatives, based on the information received during the Charrettes, the Call for Sites, other ideas coming forward and from the existing local plans for the area.”

A report of the charrettes has been published on the Council’s website and is available at either: www.highland.gov.uk/wickcharrette or www.highland,gov.uk/thursocharrette