Scotland planning news, August 2018

The UK Government has announced that the first vertical launch site in the UK will be built in Sutherland, on the north coast of Scotland.

Initial funding of £2.5m has been awarded to Highlands and Islands Enterprise to develop the vertical launch site and ‘to pave the way for a world-leading spaceflight market’.

A new £2m fund has also been announced to boost horizontal spaceport development across Britain; Glasgow Prestwick is one the locations which will benefit from the fund to support the growth of ‘sub-orbital flight, satellite launch and spaceplane ambitions’.

The Scottish Government has published ‘The Active Scotland Delivery Plan’, which details the wide range of actions the Government and other partner organisations are undertaking to support people in Scotland in being physically active.

Planning (as well as e.g. education, transport, and healthcare) is considered an integral element of the ‘whole-of-system’ cross-sector approach which is at the basis of the Delivery Plan, to encourage greater physical activity as part of ‘improving Scotland’s health’.

Boosting investment in walking and cycling, and putting active travel ‘at the heart of [...] transport planning’ are among the proposals directly relating to land use planning. The Delivery Plan states the intention to build on ‘existing planning policies that support active travel and promote sustainable patterns of transport as part of a transition to a low carbon economy through the review of Scottish Planning Policy’.