Planning & Place-making

Planning Context

BEFS Members understand that Scotland’s spatial planning system is a vital mechanism for protecting and enhancing our rich and diverse built environment. Effective planning preserves heritage assets, sets a framework for the productive reuse of vacant buildings, and ensures that adaptations and new developments are respectful of a place’s distinctive character.

BEFS welcomes the clear emphasis in the Fourth National Planning Framework on recognising the value of Scotland’s heritage, culture, and environment. A planning system that favours reuse over demolition and new-build, treating existing buildings and homes as valuable infrastructure assets. Planning drives sustainable development by informing decision-making on the adaptation of historic architecture.

The effectiveness of the planning system is currently restricted by major capacity limitations within planning authorities. There has been a 28.6% drop in local government expenditure on planning in Scotland since 2010. These resource gaps degrade the speed and quality of decision-making and reduce the opportunity for constructive exchange between planning officers and the historic environment sector. Planning departments are increasingly overstretched and often lack in-house experts, such as archaeologists and ecologists, needed to support statutory requirements.

Place-based Interventions

Place-making describes the collaborative efforts to ensure a community’s built environment is developed in line with local aspirations and identity. Effective place-based approaches provide positive outcomes for health, wellbeing, and long-term climate resilience.

BEFS Members believe that the historic environment must be central to the Community Wealth Building policy agenda. Local procurement for maintenance and the reuse of historic buildings can upskill contractors and keep wealth within local economies.

Remote and island communities face unique challenges, including higher costs for repairs and maintenance, which require distinctive approaches and appropriate investments.

Bringing empty buildings and land back into productive use is a cross-portfolio place-making priority with immense value for Scotland’s villages, towns, and cities. There are currently 11,000 hectares of vacant and derelict land and buildings in urban Scotland. This is an areas nearly twice the size of the city of Dundee. Reducing this total through repair and reuse can address the housing emergency, revitalise local pride of place, and foster local pride of place.

Our Call to Action

The 2026 BEFS Manifesto calls for well-resourced planning system that acts as a catalyst for positive change, and a more joined-up approach to place-based policy. Our key recommendations include:

1. Digital Transformation: Developing the Fourth National Planning Framework into a fully interactive and frequently updated online resource to better support users across all sectors.
2. Investment at Scale: Committing to enabling pathways and investment to bring vacant and derelict land and buildings back into use at scale.
3. Policy Integration: Ensuring that all Community Wealth Building action plans specifically integrate built environment and heritage aspirations.

By strengthening the planning system and prioritising place-making, Scotland can create more high-quality places where people enjoy living, working, and socialising.

To learn more about BEFS policy influencing work in planning and place-making, please contact the relevant BEFS Team Members.