Image © John Gilbert, Under One Roof

Under One Roof, the information website for flat owners and their advisers in Scotland, needs to secure further funding to continue in existence. They need to know how people use the website and want to offer users an opportunity to shape how the project should develop in the future.

You can help with this mission by completing a short survey that Under One Roof has set up via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JPF5WB3.

• There are just 5 “tick box” style questions with options to add a comment or story if you wish.
• Just answer from your own personal experience and point of view.  There is no need to consult your colleagues. (You can forward them this email so they can complete the survey for themselves and Under One Roof will cope with any duplicate responses.)
• You will only be shown questions which are designed for your type of user.
• There is only 1 compulsory question – this is the one that directs you to the set of questions most applicable to your role.

We all appreciate just how valuable Under One Roof has been. As the Scottish Parliament considers new tenement legislation, issues of climate change come ever more to the fore and incidences such as tenement collapse and stone falls continue apace, this does not seem like an opportune time for this valuable resource to cease to exist.

There is no deadline – but why not just do it now as it won’t take more than a few minutes?

Built Environment Forum Scotland are signatories of an open letter to Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, regarding the introduction of minimum standards for whole lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for new buildings under Section 6 of the Scottish Building Standards.

Open letter to Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, the Scottish Government

Dear Mr Stewart,

We, the undersigned, are writing to call upon the Scottish Government to introduce minimum standards for whole lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for new buildings under Section 6 of the Scottish Building Standards.

We note that the new Building Standards are due to be introduced in October 2021, with changes published one year in advance and, given the wealth of expertise in this field available to the Scottish Government, we do not see the time available to draft the necessary changes as at all prohibitive.

We further note the findings of the recent report by AECOM for the Committee on Climate Change on incorporating targets for embodied and sequestered carbon into the building standards framework, which concludes that mandatory regulation is more likely to be effective for addressing life-cycle emissions and sets out a number of options for achieving this, dependent on the level of ambition for such targets. We also note the findings of the Committee’s recent ‘Net Zero’ report, which serve to highlight the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy. And we note the conclusions of the recent report on energy efficiency to Westminster’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which found that the Government is off-track to meet its targets, that policy gaps exist, and that the UK’s building stock remains one of the most inefficient in Europe [3].

In addition to reducing Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions, regulating to reduce the lifecycle emissions of new buildings by accounting for those embodied and sequestered in materials has significant potential to leverage co-benefits to Scotland’s environment, society and economy. These include supporting the development of local, sustainable, supply chains, and associated skilled employment opportunities, and encouraging forestry and land management practices that support biodiversity and create new opportunities for recreation and tourism. This evidence has been highlighted in numerous publications, including a 2017 report for the Scottish Government by Aether UK and Glasgow Caledonian University. Glasgow is also home to the Materials Library, a unique physical and online resource managed by Architecture and Design Scotland, and harnessing this wealth of evidence and expertise would be invaluable for enabling the introduction of such standards and associated guidance [5].

Therefore, we call upon the Scottish Government to commit to introducing standards for whole lifecycle emissions under the current revision of the Scottish Building Standards. We also recommend that, in order to facilitate this within the time available, the Scottish Government should convene a short life working group on whole lifecycle emissions from new buildings. This would establish the level of ambition achievable in the lifetime of the new standards, and agree how accounting for lifecycle emissions should be incorporated into Section 6 in a manner that will facilitate the tightening of these regulations under future revisions. It would also allow the findings of the group to be completed and put out for consultation in time for the publication of the new draft standards circa October 2020.

Organisational supporters:

Common Weal

The Energy Poverty Research Initiative

Glasgow Caledonian University

Built Environment Forum Scotland

If you wish to be a signatory of this letter contact Dr Keith Baker on Keith.Baker@gcu.ac.uk.

NEXT STEPS TO SAVING THE PLANET

From Carbon’s Casualties to Climate Solutions

Sun 11 Aug 19:30 – 21:00

Since 2015, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photographer Josh Haner has documented the realities of climate change across the globe. His photo series Carbon’s Casualties explores the many consequences of a warming world, offering the space to consider solutions. Join us for a special discussion with Haner, acclaimed Australian novelist and campaigner Tim Winton and Laura Watts, whose Energy at the End of World offers a way forward through Orkney’s role as a centre for energy innovation. In collaboration with Beyond Borders.

REWRITING SCOTTISH HERSTORY

Siân Reynolds & Sara Sheridan

Mon 12 Aug 10:30 – 11:30

Meet two women on a feminist mission. Former Stirling University professor Siân Reynolds is one of the editors of The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Join her in conversation with local author Sara Sheridan whose guidebook Where Are The Women? is a radical reimagining of Scottish heritage and landscape to include the women who were there all along. Chaired by Susan Stewart.

POWER OF THE POPULACE

Michael Anderson

Tue 13 Aug 11:00 – 12:00

Distinguished academic Michael Anderson – a stalwart at the University of Edinburgh for 40 years who has been honoured with an OBE – discusses the change in Scotland’s population since the 1850s. Exploring issues such as rural settlement, migration, deprivation and industrial investment, Anderson offers a comparison between Scotland’s population shifts and those in the rest of Europe.

WHEN BAUHAUS MET BRITAIN

Alan Powers

Sat 17 Aug 17:30 – 18:30

In its centenary year, the Bauhaus art school’s legacy continues to gather momentum. Art curator and journalist Alan Powers adds to the discussion with Bauhaus Goes West, which looks at how the movement landed in Britain and America following the closure of the original school by the Nazis in 1933. Through this event, Powers seeks to re-evaluate the influence of Bauhaus on modern art and design.

ENLIGHTENED EDINBURGH

Murray Pittock

Sun 18 Aug 10:30 – 11:30

Professor of English Literature at Glasgow University, Murray Pittock’s work focuses on Edinburgh and its civic development across the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the main drivers of national cultural change, including newspapers, gentry politics and coffee house culture, were based in the city but what was the real reason for Edinburgh’s Enlightenment? Find out as Pittock discusses his fascinating study with John Gordon.

THE CLEARANCES AND THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE

Tom Devine

Sun 18 Aug 18:45 – 19:45

The Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries helped shape the nation we know today, but historians have struggled to define what happened. Scotland’s leading historian, Sir Tom Devine, brings us The Scottish Clearances, his authoritative, readable and even-handed account. Today, he sets the record straight, conjuring the voices of the dispossessed and exploding myths about this defining period for Scotland and its people.

DESIGNING A BETTER SCOTLAND

Philip Long & Joanna Norman

Mon 19 Aug 10:00 – 11:00

Philip Long is director of the V&A Dundee and co-editor of The Story of Scottish Design. Together with Joanna Norman, curator of the museum’s Scottish Design Galleries, Long presents a broad survey of 500 years of great Scottish design and pioneering designers, from textiles to technology, furniture to video games. Long and Norman discuss the importance of design (and a certain new building).

THE GIRL FROM ANYTOWN

Tracey Thorn

Mon 19 Aug 20:30 – 21:30

Returning to our roots can be tough, revealing and, as Tracey Thorn discovers in Another Planet, inspiring. The singer-songwriter behind Everything But The Girl follows up her bestselling Bedsit Disco Queen with a wonderfully witty walk through the maligned suburbia of her youth. Today, Thorn shares hilarious recollections of the physical and emotional cul-de-sacs of her Green Belt upbringing and its lasting impact.

BUILDING SOCIETIES

Miles Glendinning, Stefan Muthesius & Stefi Orazi

Tue 20 Aug 12:30 – 13:30

Britain faces a housing crisis: what can the nation’s last major building scheme teach us? Architectural historians Miles Glendinning and Stefan Muthesius analyse the high-rise revolution in Towers for the Welfare State. Stefi Orazi widens the perspective with Modernist Estates — Europe, exploring some of the continent’s housing schemes with input from residents. Today they debate the social impact of what we build.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Ellie Harrison & Jemma Neville

Tue 20 Aug 14:00 – 15:00

Meet two activists who dig beneath the stereotypes to real lived experience. Jemma Neville campaigned for human rights law, and in Constitution Street explores global rights issues through the stories of the residents of one road in Leith. ‘Think Global, Act Local’ is the inspiration for artist-activist Ellie Harrison, and in her new book The Glasgow Effect she sheds light on the inequality and disconnection of people in Glasgow communities, putting forward a new vision for sustainable living. The two authors discuss their ideas with fellow writer and social historian Daniel Gray.

SCOTLAND’S ROLE IN SLAVERY

Finlay McKichan

Wed 21 Aug 11:00 – 12:00

Francis Humberston Mackenzie was a complex man: a profoundly deaf Scot who became Governor of Barbados; a benevolent Highland landowner during the Clearances who went on to own a slave plantation – and fight for slaves rights. Historian Finlay McKichan’s study Lord Seaforth, discussed today, reassesses his story, the connections between Highland and Caribbean communities, and the end of the imperial slave trade.

HOW BUILDINGS SHAPE US

Iain Sinclair

Wed 21 Aug 11:45 – 12:45

Among our finest voices on the significance of place, Welsh writer and filmmaker Iain Sinclair health checks our relationships with buildings across the world in Living with Buildings and Walking with Ghosts. From Marseille to Mexico, inner London to the Outer Hebrides, Sinclair wonders whether buildings might be affecting our health. Today he shares discoveries on why we project hopes and fears onto structures.

SO MUCH OWNED BY SO FEW

Who Owns Scotland’s Land?

Fri 23 Aug 10:00 – 11:00

Land ownership has been a contentious source of conflict throughout Scotland’s history. Public access and a belief in sharing the landscape has clashed with the economic power and influence held within the land. We explore these issues and the feasibility of land tax with our panel, which includes Andrew Thin, Chair of the Scottish Land Commission, author of Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power Alastair McIntosh and publisher and former member of the Scottish Land Review Agnes Rennie. In partnership with Quakers in Scotland.

DISASTER PLANNING

Mike Berners-Lee

Sun 25 Aug 14:00 – 15:00

Warnings of looming environmental catastrophe rain down on us with increasing frequency, and only the most ardent climate change sceptics deny we live at a crucial point for the Earth’s future. Join sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee in conversation with WWF’s Tanya Steele, as he cuts through the noise with practical advice on how we can avoid calamity, drawn from his book There is No Planet B, a ‘Handbook for the Make or Break Years’.

For the full programme visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival website.

Making Places, Connecting People’ – Call for Papers, Speakers, Displays and Contributions

Date: Saturday 9th November 2019
Venue: Birnam Arts and Conference Centre, Dunkeld and Birnam

Archaeology Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland and the Scottish Council on Archives are delighted to announce the call for contributions to Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference 2019.  Returning for its eighth year, the Conference provides a vibrant stage for volunteers, community groups and professionals to network and share experiences, inspiring one another and unlocking the tools that lead to successful projects and fruitful working partnerships.

The conference theme this year is Making Places, Connecting People. Your very involvement in local heritage plays a vital role in defining and celebrating your community, your place. Moreover, by involving your friends and neighbours, you are building and strengthening connections that bring benefits far beyond the aims of individual projects. These are also priorities for government – to help communities discover, cherish and protect the richness that is our heritage, right across Scotland. So we invite you to join us to share your experiences, thoughts and plans in the annual celebration that is Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference!

This year we will be returning to the Birnam Arts and Conference Centre in Perthshire (https://www.birnamarts.com/). Conveniently sited close to the A9 and just a five-minute walk from the railway station, this marvellous building offers an exciting range of spaces for the conference and is fully accessible to those with disabilities. With your help, we will be creating a memorable day of talks, workshops and exhibitions, hearing from you about your involvement with community heritage. As usual, volunteers and members of community groups have priority in the main plenary sessions, but there are also plenty of opportunities for the professional sector to add their skills and energy to the event.

We want to hear from you!

If you would like to be involved, please use the form to tick the option that best suits your proposal, using the boxes to outline your ideas (or to suggest an alternative), and send it to chcscot@gmail.com. Please pass on this invitation to others who might be interested in sharing their experiences – we are sure there are many people, many groups, many communities we haven’t yet reached who could have a huge positive impact on the conference, so help us find them!

Any questions – don’t hesitate to get in touch with the organising team on chcscot@gmail.com.

Closing date for submissions: Sunday 18^th August (if you miss it, contact us anyway: no promises, but we’ll see what we can do!).

It is now confirmed that Stage 3 debates on the Bill will take place in the Scottish Parliament on 18, 19 June with the final decision potentially being made on 20 June 2019. All documentation can be found on the Bill’s page.

Stage 3 has proven to be as complex and ‘guddle’ making as Stage 2. The below is the very briefest of overviews – highlighting only a few of the changes which had previously been discussed by the BEFS Planning Taskforce.  A full document of Stage 3 Amendments is linked here, and details of past work can be found on BEFS Planning page.

Many changes have been made along the way – with new roles suggested for Planning Improvement Coordinator and a person to assess Planning Authority/Authorities performance, but no further detail provided on the Chief Planning Officer role.

A purpose for planning has been reduced somewhat, and perhaps points more at the pragmatic housing delivery need expressed than the wider aspiration for planning (such as the UN-SDGs of New Urban Agenda).

The National Planning Framework has been through two iterations at Stage 3 alone, with multiple amendments expanding the reach in terms of policies referred to, and consultees needed. The second iteration added the need to meet any targets relating the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases – which given the declared climate emergency feels like a step in an appropriate direction.

Strategic Development Plans have been removed (again) and replaced with Regional Spatial Strategies.

The Local Development Plan has also been through multiple changes. The formation of such plans no-longer includes children and young people, community engagement requirements appear to have been reduced in relations to responsibilities placed upon planning authorities, cultural zones have been removed and the agent of change principle remains in flux as Stage 3 amendments both remove, and return it in various forms.

What has been removed for LDPs, also seem to apply in part to the Local Place Plans – where there is no duty to provide assistance to communities in forming a LPP. There is also the addition of the community to ‘identify land and buildings that the community body considers to be of particular significance to the local area’. Perhaps giving the opportunity to form a sort ‘local list’.

Land Value Capture has morphed into the potential for Land Value Sharing. (Recent Scottish Land Commission recommendations can be found here.)

Rights of Appeal, on which BEFS did not take a stance, have several variations at Stage 3.

Training for Planning Authorities has been put back in at Stage 3.

New topics have also come to the fore:

• Mediation
• Annual Reporting for Planning Authorities (as well as the new roles mentioned previously)
• Forestry/Ramsar and Biodiversity Amendments – as well as renewable energy, cycling facilities and small scale renewables.

BEFS will be preparing a briefing for MSPs based on previous work, and new comments from the Planning Taskforce and looks forward to what may well be a lively few days of debate.

We are looking for case studies of projects or initiatives undertaken between April 2018 and March 2019.

Your project would feature in our Historic Environment Case Studies database and be linked to the Our Place in Time (OPiT) performance report 2019. This is an opportunity for you to showcase your work within the national strategy for the historic environment, contributing to the case for continued government support for the sector.

We would be particularly interested in submissions that demonstrate evidence of the following OPIT Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• KPI 2 (CO2 emission reduction)
• KPI 3 (informed decision making – evidence that historic environment evidence informs priorities)
• KPI 4 (leadership and shared working – evidence of an increase in joined up working on strategic investment across public, private and voluntary sectors)
• KPI 8 (Effective and proportionate protection and regulation – evidence that the outcomes of management, including designation, reflects what people value)
• KPI 10 (Ensuring capacity – evidence of improved capacity by supporting communities through community empowerment and engagement)

Please submit your case study via the link below by Friday 26 July 2019.

The report has been published by the Working Group on Maintenance of Tenement Scheme Property, of which BEFS and RICS are the secretariats. The Working Group was established in March 2018 and is comprised of sector experts and MSPs from all parliamentary parties. In January 2019, the group published its interim recommendations report and then formally discussed stakeholder and public responses to the report, which were received via consultation. The Working Group on Maintenance of Tenement Scheme Property Final Recommendations Report was published on Tuesday 4 June.

The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Kevin Stewart MSP, said:

“This report brings together views from across the Scottish Parliament and housing stakeholders, and its recommendations merit serious and careful consideration.

“We welcome that it acknowledges the important action we have already taken to improve the condition of Scottish tenements, and recognises the challenges that must be met to ensure that our housing stock can continue to provide safe and sustainable homes for the future.”

Recommendations cover three areas: building inspections, owners’ associations and Building Reserve Funds, and how these aspects could function and be implemented.

• The “scheme property” of all tenements should be inspected every five years with a report prepared that will be publicly available to existing or prospective owners and tenants, neighbours and policy makers.
• Establishing compulsory owners’ associations are an essential element of tenement maintenance by providing leadership, effective decision-making processes and the ability for groups to enter into contracts.
• Building Reserve Fund (BRF) should be set up, with funds used for maintenance – as defined in Schedule 1 of the 2004 Act – including repairs and replacement, the installation of insulation, cleaning, gardening, painting and other routine works, the day to day running of a tenement and the reinstatement of a part (but not most) of the tenement.

Shadow housing and planning minister, Graham Simpson MSP, said:

“The final report from the Working Group on Tenement Maintenance is the result of hard work and dedication to this matter. We set out, knowing there is a ticking timebomb on building maintenance across the country.

“We have produced a timely report with some challenging recommendations, but government can be assured that there is cross-party and cross-sector support for what we are suggesting.

“This report is not the end of the road though and we hope the Scottish Government will take up our final recommendations and put in place practices to help keep tenements safe, energy efficient and well maintained.

“I would like to thank all members for their contributions and I look forward to seeing our hard work become policy and practice, improving the lives of the people living in tenements across Scotland.”

The issue of tenement maintenance has grown in prominence in Holyrood, with cross-party support for action to make changes to existing legislation and practice. Numerous debates have taken place in the chamber over the last 18 months; the first of which led to the establishment of the Working Group.

Hew Edgar, RICS Interim Head of Policy, commented:

“Following the publication of the interim recommendations report in January, the group has consulted widely on the three recommendations – through cross-party working and extensive stakeholder engagement – and updated the final recommendations based on feedback received.

“The recommendations are interlinked, and while each recommendation has its own benefits, the required transformative change to improve the fabric of Scotland’s tenement property can only arise through the implementation of all three.”

“RICS welcomes all recommendations within the report and we will continue to work with the Working Group, Government and interested parties to help implement these robust solutions to help future proof Scotland’s historic residential property.”

Read the full report.

Almost two weeks ago HES launched its new strategic policy document, Historic Environment Policy for Scotland (HEPS) as well as a suite of new policy and guidance documents, which are designed to sit along-side HEPS, providing detail and application direction:

• Designation Policy and Selection Guidance
• Scheduled Monument Consents Policy
• Managing Change Guidance: Demolition of Listed Buildings
• Managing Change Guidance: The Use and Adaptation of Listed Buildings

Here, we take a first-look, a brief overview, of how far we’ve collectively come since the Policy Conference held by BEFS in early 2018. What was suggested by participants then (covers what has now become the suite of documents above) is perhaps a better reflection of where we are now than revisiting the extensive consultation process. The transformation, from HESPS to HEPS, has been extensive. The change is far more than just a shuffling of acronyms.

Historic Environment Policy for Scotland (HEPS)

The overarching suggestions in early 2018 included a slimmed down Policy document, with appendices presented as their own separate documents. This was definitely taken to heart – 70+ pages have been reduced to a far more focused 18 pages. A document that could be considered far more nimble, with a brevity which can be appreciated by many. A document which also received 232 consultation responses, a wide variety of opinions and voices to attempt to take into account. No respondent, or respondent group, should expect to see all their suggestions taken on board.

There were ‘asks’ for the vision to be broader, to include: resourcing, diversity, inclusivity, the intangible and sustainability. These all receive attention – whether directly as part of the Policies themselves – or as aspects of the challenges and opportunities section.

These inclusions demonstrate new ways of thinking and acting; new opportunities for policy to be increasingly relevant and accessible. However, there are aspects which did not get addressed: those of ‘placemaking’ and ‘stewardship’ failed to make the cut.

Could the wording around Climate Change have been stronger? The phrasing implies positive intentions but perhaps fails to express the immediacy of action now necessary. The challenges around climate change also enable a light to be shone on sustainable reuse, as well as highlighting the urgency of protective action needed in some instances.

Designation Policy and Selection Guidance

There is much to praise in this new document: the much needed link to the appropriate application form is now included; positive descriptions of how designation is carried out are present; diagrams provide a little more clarity in relation to inter-organisational involvement in the processes; the concept of reviewing designation is present early and applies across the designation landscape; Building Preservation Notices are an explicit part of the process (where appropriate); and each section follows a structure and rhythm, which promotes a far easier read than previously.

The removal of conservation areas from this document may be challenging to some, but helps to more clearly define which organisations should take responsibility for these designations. The lack of information around implications and penalties in relation to designations, as well as the necessity of appropriate maintenance, perhaps says more about the current availability of resource related to enforcement than about the document and directives themselves.

The revised descriptions for listing categories (A,B,C), sees the removal of the spatial/locality based elements, which could be seen as promoting further subjectivity. Widely understood and agreed definitions of, ‘outstanding’, ‘major’, and ‘representative’ may take some time to bed-in.

Scheduled Monument Consents Policy

This is probably one of the least altered of the policy documents – the legislation remains static, so there was little need to review and redraft. The beneficial aspects of intervention listed will be seen as a positive step by many, and the definitions of personnel as ‘competent’ rather than experienced, is noted as a further beneficial step towards more inclusionary language.

There could be concern noted that HEP 6 is not explicitly included within the document – as this type of Working Together in relation to Scheduled Monuments could be usefully highlighted to enable further connection between owners and legislative bodies.

Managing Change Guidance: Demolition of Listed Buildings

There could be much to say for each document, but as this is an overview, a few comments will have to suffice. There is clarity here on the protections and processes necessary. The positive additions in relation to asset transfer and community ownership give excellent pointers to those communities considering action.

Managing Change Guidance: The Use and Adaptation of Listed Buildings

It is a great positive to see that conservation statements have been added to the document. This is a useful addition.

BEFS expressed concerns around phrases such as, “The best use of a listed building is often going to be the one for which it was designed”, and, “The continued use of a listed building for its original function will normally be the best way to retain its historic character.”  This reads as a rather tight description, and could imply an organisation still too hesitant in enabling useful change, which could benefit places, people and the planet with sustainable decisions. It is the flexibility of many of our historic buildings that has seen them survive for centuries. Ironically, most of the illustrative examples supplied by HES in this document are not demonstrating their original use – but in doing so they do demonstrate the excellent variety of opportunities for change and adaptation.

—

Whilst it is an academic exercise to parse the texts, we have to focus on the task at hand. It is not the picking apart of words or phrases that will protect, promote and encourage the use, reuse, enjoyment and understanding of our historic environment – it is how the documents are used. How these documents enable protection, enforcement, and pragmatism of reuse, will be their true assessment. Our parallel report analyses how existing historic environment policy is being used in one area of the planning process, it would be good to see HEPS more frequently utilised.

HES are putting in place additional training for those who need/want to use these documents. This training will be key to fully embedding new policies and ways of thinking across a wide number of organisations. Practical supporting literature which details: the alignment of skills and standards necessary for procedures; the suggested flow through process charts of actions around particular legislative ask;, and a clearly expressed hierarchy of policies and legislation; are all training materials which will aid the user – whether professional or personal – to understand how these policies truly apply to the historic environment.

Ultimately it’s not the words themselves that become important, it’s the opportunity they represent to refresh training, refresh thinking and to answer questions, enabling better results for people and place.

In anticipation of last week’s publication of the revised Historic Environment Policy for Scotland, BEFS decided to undertake an analysis of how existing historic environment policies are utilised within the planning system. Analysing their use at a local authority level would be a mammoth task so we narrowed the parameters by looking at how they are used in the appeal process, arguably the sharp end of the planning process and often seen as the true test of policy.  We have had the good fortune of having Susannah Gibbin, a third year undergraduate from the University of Edinburgh, with us this semester and we tasked Susannah with analysing all Listed Building Consent Appeals that were decided by the Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals in 2018.

Documentation for 70 cases decided is available and Susanna analysed them for references to national and local policies on the historic environment, and national guidance on the historic environment.

• 17% reference Scottish Planning Policy 2014 (SPP)
• 96% refer to the relevant Local Development Plan policy (LDP)
• 46% reference Historic Environment Scotland Policy Statement 2016 (HESPS)
• 41% reference Managing Change Guidance series
• 46% reference correspondence from Historic Environment Scotland
• 46% reference the relevant Conservation Area Character Appraisal
• 53% of appeals were dismissed, 47% allowed but analysis reveals no significant statistical difference as to how policies were referenced between the two outcomes.

The references to Scottish Planning Policy are very brief, as are those to the Historic Environment Scotland Policy Statement albeit with occasional paragraph references (3.38-3.39 and 3.45-3.47). Intriguingly three cases refer to Scottish Historic Environment Policy, 2 years after it has been withdrawn.

Conservation Area Character Appraisals, while referenced, are not quoted. Various documents from the Managing Change guidance series are referred to, with that on Windows being the most frequent.

It is noteworthy that while nearly all cases refer to the relevant local development plan policies, less than 50% rely upon other historic environment policies.

It may be that decisions at a local authority level are more dependent upon national policy and guidance than the DPEA – a quick sample from one local authority’s recent LBC decisions suggests that the Managing Change guidance series is frequently referenced. Arguably local development plan policies align with both SPP and HESPS (or its predecessor SHEP) so reference to more detailed guidance is all that we should expect. It does highlight the importance of getting LDP policies right.

Given that the new Historic Environment Policy for Scotland has been in development for a number of years, with excellent public and sector wide engagement, we welcome the training that Historic Environment Scotland are already making available before it is due to be formally adopted on the 1st of May 2019.