By Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing

FOR the last month we have been celebrating the annual Festival of Architecture, but this is also a special year as we celebrate 70 years since the Town and Country Planning Act.

It therefore feels very fitting that it’s also been a year when government and industry have come together to review our planning system to simplify and strengthen it to ensure it works for all.

Planning is something that really engages people’s interests. Planning shapes our communities and has the potential to transform lives when it is done well. An effective planning system promotes the development that we need for economic growth and for housing, in all parts of Scotland, and makes sure everything fits together to make great places where people want to live and work.

It is essential to help us meet many of the Scottish Government’s targets, helping people to lead more active lives, tackle climate change and access the services they need, for example.

In short, good planning is vital to shaping and delivering the high quality places that our communities need and deserve.

The Scottish Government’s consultation on a new Planning Bill received a tremendous response with hundreds of submissions from a wide cross-section of Scottish society.

Clearly planning matters. People and places matter.

We have listened carefully to all those views in taking forward the detail of our proposals and the bill I will introduce to the Scottish Parliament this winter will:

• Focus planning – and planners – on delivering the development we all need, rather than continuously writing plans;

• Empower people in our communities to get more involved and to have a real influence over the future development of their areas;

• Strengthen the strategic role of planning to coordinate and support the delivery of the infrastructure we need to support development, including that much needed housing; and

• Simplify and strengthen the planning system by reducing complexity while improving accountability and trust.

In short, it will move the focus of planners to places, and to getting good development on the ground, in the right places, rather than bogging them down in process.

In the past fortnight I have joined the Scottish Alliance for People and Places, a new alliance of organisations centred on creating a positive, inclusive and effective planning system, to discuss how we can work with all those involved in the sector to reach that goal.

Today the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, Architecture and Design Scotland and others continued that important conversation as part of the Housing – the future event as part of the Festival of Architecture, showcasing good work already underway and talking about our ambitions for moving forward.

That is what I want for our planning system, and I look forward to continuing to engage with and hear from others who have ideas on how to achieve it. .

My aim is that together we will create an inclusive system that fairly balances economic, social and environmental wellbeing to deliver the good quality housing, development and investment that will support communities across Scotland to thrive.