The annual housing land audit for Clackmannanshire is an audit with data for the period starting 1st April and ending 31st March.
Every local authority must provide an up-to-date account on the availability of land for housing. The key purpose of the audit is to set out the housing land supply position, giving a clear indication of any land that can be developed during the first 5 years; the 'effective land supply' and then to the longer term.
The entire land supply is referred to as the 'established supply'. The audit should indicate progress is being made to meeting the projected overall housing requirements in accord with the Local Development Plan. Regular monitoring in the delivery of new build housing, and the type of housing need and demand it addresses, is a key consideration for any housing strategy and related development plan.
The Housing Land Audit includes all land allocated in the Local Development Plan, and any other land with planning permission or other known commitment to develop.
A Business Land Audit containing data and information on the availability and likely programming in delivery of land allocated for employment uses in Clackmannanshire has been prepared for 2019. It comprises a summary statement, and a map of sites. We aim to update the Audit bi-annually.
The Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) is a nationwide data collection undertaken to establish the extent and state of vacant and derelict land in Scotland. The survey has been operating since 1988, and is managed by the Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services. The data is sourced from all Scottish local authorities and the National Park Authorities. Clackmannanshire Council has submitted data to the survey every year since 1988.
The main purpose of the survey statistics is to provide the evidence base in monitoring the extent and state of urban vacant and derelict land; the remediation of vacant and derelict land; and progress in bringing it into re-use.
The Scottish Government's Survey Bulletins present a written interpretation of the results of the survey along with a series of tables. The data and associated information (including historic survey results) is available from the Scottish Government's Planning Statistics web pages. The latest Audit is for 2019.
Regeneration of Clackmannanshire's town centres is a key aim of the Local Development Plan and creating attractive, vibrant and viable town centres plays a key role in making and sustaining our settlements as successful and resilient places.
Scottish Government policy seeks to promote a 'town centre first' principle and sets the requirement for local authorities to carry out town centre health checks as referred to in Scottish Planning Policy. The Scottish Government's Town Centre Action Plan 2014 recognised the need to better support the collection and collation of town centre data to aid understanding on the health and performance of towns. It states "The strategic decisions necessary for improving towns calls for better, shared, more user-friendly information and benchmarking tools."
To this end, the Understanding Scottish Places (USP) Toolkit was created by a consortium of organisations commissioned by the Scottish Government. The consortium includes Carnegie UK Trust, The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), Scotland's Towns Partnership, and the University of Stirling. The toolkit enables practitioners to better understand their town within a Scottish typology, the town's function, and benchmark progress as changes are made. It audits the performance of towns, for a more in depth audit than ever before, and enable benchmarking with other towns across Scotland based upon a common platform of nationwide data.
A first "Your Town Audit" was completed for Alloa in August 2015. The Council worked in partnership with the Alloa Town Centre Business Improvement District (ATCBID) to complete the Audit 2015. This can contribute to an updated town centre Strategy and Action Plan for Alloa. The published Your Town Audit Summary Report can be viewed on the Understanding Scottish Places web site. The Council will continue to work with ATCBID to regularly audit the town and town centre of Alloa.
The toolkit may, however, be rolled out across Clackmannanshire and used to audit for the first time, all of the urban centres in Clackmannanshire with a population of 1,000 people and more. This will enable better understanding of our places, provide continuity and consistency in auditing, and enable the identification of significant trends. The Council has limited resources and perhaps there is potential for communities to get involved in completing an audit for their place. Discussion and agreement needs to be reached on exactly how and by whom any potential auditing work can be secured for the other towns across Clackmannanshire.
Development Planning
Kilncraigs, Greenside Street, Alloa, FK10 1EB
Tel: 01259 450000
Email: devplan@clacks.gov.uk