Please find the draft strategy here:
- Our aim is for this strategy to support prioritisation, and to help realise the value of the historic environment. We have drafted the statement below with this in mind. Do you support this mission statement? Please use the text box to explain what you like about it or what you would change. You do not have to choose a response option to comment in the text box.
"Our mission is to harness the power of the historic environment for the benefit of our society"
Yes I support this statement
No I do not support this statement
Comments:
RTPI Scotland generally supports this statement, but wishes to see closer alignment with aims and missions set out elsewhere in the wider built environment sector. For example, as set out in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 regarding the purpose of planning, managing the historic environment and built heritage assets should be conducted in a manner that protects ‘the long-term public interest’. Therefore, we suggest the amendment that the mission be to “collaboratively harness the power of the historic environment for the benefit of our society, and in the long-term public interest.”
- These are the six principles that have been identified in feedback from the engagement workshops. Do you agree with them? Please use the text box to explain what you like about them or what you would change. You do not have to choose a response option to comment in the text box.
Yes No Not Sure
We must put people at the heart of this strategy
We must face the climate and biodiversity crises
We must care for, and protect, our heritage assets
We must work collaboratively across sectors
We must be prepared to make difficult decisions
We must make inclusive and transparent decisions
Answers: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
Please add any comments on priorities here:
RTPI Scotland is in agreement with the broad scope of these six principles, and welcomes the centrality of the climate crisis. To further strengthen this, we believe it would be beneficial to bring the concept of place into the first principle, which could read as: “we must put people and place at the heart of this strategy”. We see this beneficial in emphasising the connection between communities’ wellbeing and the places they live in.
Moreover, we see the potential to strengthen the third principle, so as to read: “we must care for, protect, promote and utilise our heritage assets”. This change of language would be beneficial in emphasising the need to recognise the productive uses heritage assets have for communities and ensure that they are used to their full potential, such as in heritage-led regeneration schemes.
- We have identified three key priorities as the focus for delivery over the next five years. Do you agree with them? Please use the text box to explain your answer. You do not have to choose a response option to comment in the text box.
Yes No Not Sure
Enabling the transition to net zero
Empowering vibrant, resilient, and inclusive communities and places
Building a wellbeing economy
Answers: Yes, Yes, Yes
RTPI Scotland agrees with these three key priorities and appreciates the inclusion of place into the second priority. Referencing our response to the previous question, we see great potential in incorporating the concept of place and place-based approaches more centrally to the strategy to align with other key stakeholders in the built environment.
- Each priority has a set of outcomes expressed as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) associated with it. Do you agree with these KPIs? Please use the text box to explain your answer. You do not have to choose a response option to comment in the text box.
I agree with all the KPIs
I suggest changes to one or more of the KPIs and/or have ideas for additional KPIs
I do not agree with any of these KPIs
If you have comments on the KPIs, including new or different measures that could be used, please comment below:
RTPI Scotland is broadly in agreement with all KPIs in principle, but in general would wish to see more emphasis placed on the role the historic environment should play in supporting wider place-making and regeneration initiatives. Regarding the measurement of KPIs, we wish to raise the question of who measures such indicators, and what the resourcing implications may be for measurement process. This is something that could be built into a delivery programme for clarity of use.
RTPI Scotland believes that a robust link to the planning system is vital to achieve these outcomes, particularly regarding the scope and function of the newly agreed National Planning Framework 4. KPI1, 2 and 5 describe measurements that suggest the explicit involvement of the planning system, RTPI Scotland wishes to highlight our planning outcomes research report Measuring What Matters (2020) which develops a flexible toolkit for measuring the wide-reaching and complex outcomes of place-based planning practice. RTPI Scotland recommends engagement with this report and its findings, particularly as it connects to key work being undertaken by Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) with the Improvement Service (IP) that seeks to review planning indicators in the Local Government Benchmarking Framework and to refine the requirements of planning authorities’ annual performance measurements.
Regarding staffing, we wish to highlight KPI3: “Developed, Implemented, and Increased take up of skills identified as essential to deliver a net-zero transition”, which includes a range of built environment sector skills including planning officers, and others with heritage and environmental conservation skills. Recent research in the Future Planners Project Report (2022) highlighted the need and demand for an increased planning skills pipeline in Scotland, which RTPI Scotland believes is fundamental to addressing the skills shortages that affect collaborative working between the heritage and planning sectors. Therefore, we wish to highlight the need for cross-sectoral mainstreaming of skills resourcing in heritage and planning to achieve a successful net-zero transition.
RTPI Scotland would promote the expanded wording of KPI4 to include stakeholders as well as organisations, which would better capture the relevant built environment stakeholders which play a key role in caring for the historic environment, such as planning services.
- Under each KPI, we have set out the actions we might take at national level to deliver our mission. Do you think these actions are the right ones to deliver against the KPI? Can you suggest alternatives?
Yes I agree with these actions
I suggest changes to one or more of the actions and/or have ideas for additional actions
I do not agree with any of these actions
Please comment here:
RTPI Scotland agrees with the overall scope of the national level actions. However, we believe that the KPIs would benefit from forming a stronger connection with the key objectives within national planning policy, particularly in delivering the strategy’s three key priorities.
KPI1 describes the ambition to “develop a sector route map for net zero, supported by Scotland’s historic environment policies”. Given the status of the climate crisis, and the need for fast action to achieve Scottish Government’s ambitious carbon reduction targets, we believe that this point should be expedited and elaborated to form a clear delivery strategy central to this KPI. This could represent the heritage sector’s net-zero route map.
RTPI Scotland believes that a focus on the relationship between heritage assets and renewable energy delivery would be a beneficial addition. Scotland’s Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan outlines the need for 20 Gigawatts of additional renewable electricity capacity by 2030 to meet demands, which will need to be facilitated within national heritage strategy to achieve this rapid decarbonisation. To further align the actions relating to net zero carbon targets, RTPI Scotland would advocate for specific reference to the role the heritage sector can play in achieving Scottish Government’s 20 per cent car kilometre reduction target by 2030 and provision of EV charging infrastructure.
RTPI Scotland notes that there is no reference to Community Wealth Building (CWB) or inclusive growth within the strategy’s key priorities, which represents a key practical approach to economic development that can utilise heritage assets for the benefit of local and regional communities and economies. RTPI Scotland believes an alignment to the CWB approach within the national strategy for economic transformation (NSET) should be a key priority of the strategy in KPI7 ‘Delivered a responsible economic contribution’.
Within KPI3, we wish to reiterate the importance of developing all professions within the built environment into developing Skills Investment Plans, particularly as the under-resourcing of planning is a constraint on achieving an effective net-zero transition and affects the heritage sector reciprocally. Therefore, RTPI Scotland suggests a skills and resourcing action plan as part of an OPiT delivery programme that engages with cross-sectoral challenges.
Within KPI5, RTPI Scotland agrees with the vision for community engagement with their historic environments. However, we wish to highlight the associated risks of ‘over-consulting’ and would advocate for more joined-up, place-based means of community engagement bringing together different built environment stakeholders and local service providers. This could use precious public sector resources more efficiently whilst avoiding consultation fatigue in communities. This would include making a clear connection to community consultation in the planning system such as Local Place Plans and engagement associated with the preparations of Local Development Plans. This would include consideration of how children and young people are being engaged with.
RTPI Scotland would like to see a robust connection between the actions set out in OPiT and the national developments within NPF4, which represent Scotland’s most strategic focusses of infrastructural development and “are intended to be examples of the Place Principle and placemaking approaches”. We believe that this would be a valuable strategic inclusion to the OPiT and could act as mechanisms for it to connect up collaboratively with the planning system in a way that protects and utilises heritage assets in the public interest. Therefore, we believe a key priority indicator would be to fully engage with the list of national developments. An example of this would be incorporating the national walking and cycling network (NWCN), which is proposed to increase by 2000km by 2035 to facilitate active transport, tourism and sustainable development in Scotland. This is a national development which RTPI Scotland believes the heritage sector needs to produce a tangible strategic response to in order to aid the facilitation of NWCN given its important benefits to both tourism, local economy and achieving net-zero.
- Under each KPI, we have set out the actions we might take at a local (regional) level to deliver our mission. Do you think these actions are the right ones to deliver against the KPI? Can you suggest alternatives?
Yes I agree with these actions
I suggest changes to one or more of the actions and/or have ideas for additional actions
I do not agree with any of these actions
RTPI Scotland does not believe that the actions set out consider regional mechanisms for delivery. A proposal of how the actions would align with Regional Spatial Strategies, Regional Economic Strategies underpinning City Region and Regional Growth Deals, Regional Economic Partnerships, Regional Land Use Partnerships, and the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 would be welcomed. This may also support ambitions to attract funding to projects incorporating the historic built environment.
At a local level, RTPI Scotland strongly supports the reference to place-based initiatives under KPI5, but would wish to see broader reference made to place-based to initiatives throughout this section and the whole strategy, which could include reference to the Place Principle.
- What structures and mechanisms are needed to oversee successful delivery of the new historic environment strategy?
RTPI Scotland believes that properly resourcing all sectors and stakeholders across the built environment and aligning within the Place Principle is key to the successful and collaborative delivery of OPiT from the national to local scales. The NPF4 Delivery Programme underlines the need for this mainstreaming of spatial thinking across all national plans and strategies, which is particularly relevant to Historic Environment Scotland as part of the Key Agencies Group (KAG), so we believe that stronger alignment is needed.
RTPI Scotland believes it would be helpful for stakeholders to comment on a draft delivery programme, which could set out clearly how the strategy will interface with other national strategies and their respective delivery programmes.
- Participants attending the engagement workshops asked for regional opportunities and mechanisms to help deliver the strategy. Do you have suggestions for how a regional approach to delivery might work?
As set out in response to Q19, RTPI Scotland believes that regional opportunities could be more fully considered in the strategy. This should also include consideration of how OPiT can help support the regional priorities set out in section 1 of the NPF4.
- If applicable, what role would you like to have in delivering the strategy? An example of a role could be taking part in a steering group overseeing delivery of the strategy or taking part in a working group that delivers to a particular priority.
RTPI Scotland is happy to take part in a steering group, as we have done with the previous OPiT strategy delivery.
- What impact do you think the strategy might have on people with protected characteristics? Please add any comments in the text box below.
Age
Sex
Sexual Orientation
Gender Reassignment
Disability and long-term conditions
Race
Pregnancy and maternity
Marriage and civil partnerships
Options for each: Positive, Negative or No Impact
No Impact for All
Comments:
RTPI Scotland doesn’t foresee any potential impacts that may affect communities with protected characteristics. However, we support in principle the use of actively supportive language around EDI in the use, management, and interpretation of both tangible and intangible forms of heritage, and see the benefit of this in facilitating the engagement of hard to reach communities with place-based initiatives involving heritage assets.
- What impact do you think the strategy might have on the competitiveness of Scottish businesses, the third sector or the regulatory context? Please add any comments in the text box below.
Positive Impact
Negative Impact
No Impact
RTPI Scotland believes that if implemented, the strategy could have an overall positive impact on the competitiveness of Scottish business, third sector and regulatory contexts, if it is aligned further to facilitative a successful transition to net-zero, the creation of sustainable and inclusive places, and inclusive growth through heritage-led regeneration and tourism.
- What impact do you think the strategy might have on people in island communities? Please add any comments in the text box below.
Positive Impact
Negative Impact
No Impact
Many Islands in Scotland are rich in heritage assets, and the maintenance and enhancement of these could support inclusive growth. However, it should be noted that island communities face unique challenges such as increased exposure to costal erosion, high construction costs, and demographic/skills constraints within their communities. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach may not be appropriate and the strategy should allow some flexibility for island communities to address heritage related issues with solutions tailored for their specific contexts.
26a. Has our environmental assessment identified the likely environmental effects of the options?
Yes it has identified the likely environmental impact
No it has not identified the likely environmental impact
26b. Do you think there are any additional environmental mitigation, enhancement, or monitoring measures that should be considered?
Yes
No
26c. Do you have any other comments on the environmental assessment? If so please comment below.
No comment.
- Do you have any final comments on the draft strategy?
No further comment.
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