Item 7 - Appendix 5
West Dunbartonshire Council · 6 August 2025
Back to Planning Committee — 6 August 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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NPIF Good Practice template Which attributes of a high performing planning authority does this relate to: ☐Attribute 1: The Planning Authority has sufficient resources and skills to maximise productivity ☐Attribute 2: The Planning Authority has a valued and supported workforce ☐Attribute 3: This Planning Authority has embedded continuous improvement ☐Attribute 4: This Planning Authority has sound governance ☐Attribute 5: This Planning Authority has effective leadership ☐Attribute 6: This Planning Authority has a robust policy and evidence base ☐Attribute 7: This Planning Authority makes best use of data and digital technology ☐Attribute 8: This Planning Authority has effective and efficient decision making processes ☐Attribute 9: This Planning Authority has good customer care ☐Attribute 10: This Planning Authority has effective engagement and collaboration with stakeholders and communities ☒Attribute 11: This Planning Authority supports the delivery of sustainable, liveable and productive places ☒Attribute 12: This Planning Authority supports the delivery of consented development West Dunbartonshire Council Title: Supporting High Quality Development and Places Context West Dunbartonshire Council is committed to create places for people, spaces for investment and destinations to enjoy – ensuring that all new development enhances and protects our great places, strengthens existing communities, as well as creating new and distinctive places. To support this aspiration, the spatial strategy is focused on the delivery of significant regeneration areas and other key sites within our already established urban areas. Sustainable and high quality placemaking is at the heart of this strategy and is a key priority for the Council. West Dunbartonshire Councils pre-application process and Place and Design Panel are other key tools which the authority uses to raise the quality of development proposals and deliver better outcomes for our communities. Through the pre-application process there is the opportunity to provide early placemaking advice to applicants and incorporate stakeholders concerns prior to the application being submitted. As well as raising the bar in terms of design this also front-ends development details, ITEM 7 - APPENDIX 5
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reducing the need for conditions and reducing delays while discharging these so that development can get started more quickly once approved. The Council recognises the importance of continually improving its service offer, in order to take a more proactive role in supporting the delivery of high-quality developments. By acknowledging that early and effective consultation is essential to this aspiration, the Pre-Application Framework has been developed as a critical tool in helping to support applicants through this process. What happened? The Council recognises that developments can be uniquely complex and often involve different services from both within and outwith the Council. The Pre-Application Framework has been established in order to provide a bespoke pre-application process; one which reflects the changing needs of different applications. The options for pre-application have been simplified into two distinct routes – Pre-Application Advice and Pre-Application Framework. Upon receipt of a pre-application enquiry the Council recommends which route is most appropriate and provides relevant information and guidance to the applicant team based on the type, scale and complexity of the proposal. The Pre-Application Framework provides a realistic timeframe for planning and resourcing the pre- application discussions, with the aim of agreeing a submission date and facilitating a streamlined and effective planning application process. The Applicant and the Council agree that the timetable may be subject to change which is kept under review as the project moves forward. A designated member of the Applicant’s team, in conjunction with the Council Case Officer, convene meetings, organise agendas and produce minutes to be agreed by the Project Team. Information is shared between parties in good time in order to facilitate necessary input to the process as a whole. The Pre-Application Framework process does not give a guarantee of planning permission, and it does not prejudice the outcome of the planning application or the impartiality of the Council in exercising its statutory duties as local planning authority. Areas of collaboration Place and Design panel The Place and Design Panel was established in 2018 as an innovative vehicle to assist the Council in achieving better places and improving the design quality of the built environment in West Dunbartonshire. Since its inception, it has supported the progression of a number of key regeneration sites, playing a key role in raising the quality of development which embraces the Government’s place-
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based approach. The Place and Design Panel now sits within the new Pre-Application Framework as a key opportunity to provide additional expert advice to inform the planning process. By offering advice to applicants and council officers during the pre-application process, the panel supports planning officers and the planning committee in securing delivery of high-quality developments and the creation of exceptional places. It is vital for applicant teams and developments proposals to ensure that the Place and Design Panel are brought into the application discussion at the correct stage – the framework ensures that this is achievable and provides clarity to all involved. A report of the panel discussion is created with the necessary action points clearly defined in order to feed into the next phase of the Pre-Application Framework. Elected Members Briefing For some applications of a significant scale, complexity or of local interest an Elected Members briefing may be necessary as part of the Pre-Application Framework. The briefings are an important tool to allow early engagement by developers with Elected Members in order to identify key and significant local issues at an early stage of the planning process. It enables Elected Members to be better informed of developments that will subsequently be presented to the Planning Committee and helps to give a degree of certainty and confidence to applicants by identifying key and local issues earlier in the process. The Elected Members briefing is open to all Elected Members and not just Elected Members that sit on the Planning Committee. What was the overall result? Please provide details of the overall outputs and outcomes you hope to achieve and how this contributes towards improvement. The objective of the Pre-Application Framework is one of co-operation and consistency throughout the negotiation, and for discussion relating to the pre-application process to provide a degree of certainty of intended outcomes and improve the quality of the project, leading to an effective and efficient quality planning decision. The key benefits of using the pre-application framework are to enable the local planning authority and applicant to: • Set out an efficient, transparent and solution focused process for determining complex planning applications; • Agreement of relevant timescales, actions and resources for handling applications; • Enabling joint working between the applicant and local planning authority, including engagement strategies for other parties such as statutory consultees, Councillors, the Place and Design panel and other stakeholders.
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Lessons learned Successes The shift to a formalised framework provides a more structured, transparent and predictable process for applicants and officers alike, clearly setting out expectations from the outset. Integrating the Place and Design Panel into the process helps to ensure that the Panel can influence proposals at an early stage in the process, before key design decisions have been fixed. Applicants benefit from early identification of design constraints, technical considerations and stakeholder concerns, which reduces delays and uncertainty later in the planning process. Front loading the detail can also allow for a reduced number or scope of planning conditions allowing for quicker site starts following approval. Challenges Some applicants have been reluctant to engage with the process or seek to minimise their engagement with it, for example opting for the lower-cost pre-application advice when a full framework is recommended by officers. We will continue to communicate the value of early and full engagement with the pre-application process with applicants. While the process has improved outcomes, there is a considerable additional administrative burden placed on officers, brought about by the expanded and more formalised process. Current resourcing pressures throughout council services mean that stakeholder services are not always able to meet the timeframes required by the framework, or unable to meet with applicants to work through particular issues. Development of a consultation protocol is a key area of work which will help to facilitate stakeholder input in the future. Lessons Learned The introduction of the formal pre-application process and framework has had key benefits for applicants and officers in terms of producing better design and place outcomes for development. We will continue to refine the process and the operation of the place and design panel so that they can continue to provide the right balance of certainty and flexibility to meet the needs of applicants and officers. Development of a Stakeholder protocol and a membership and skills survey of the place and design panel will be key steps for improving this work. What contribution will it aim to make towards delivering outcomes? NPF4 ☒Sustainable places ☒Climate change and nature crisis ☒Climate mitigate and adaptation ☒Biodiversity ☐Natural Places
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☐Soils ☐Forestry, woodland and trees ☒Historic assets and places ☐Green belts ☐Brownfield, vacant and derelict land and empty buildings ☐Coast development ☐Energy ☐Zero waste ☒Sustainable transport ☒Liveable places ☒Design, quality and place ☒Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods ☒Quality homes ☐Rural homes ☐Infrastructure first ☒Heat and cooling ☒Blue and green infrastructure ☒Play, recreation and sport ☒Flood risk and water management ☐Health and safety ☐Digital Infrastructure ☒Productive places ☐Community Wealth Building ☒Business and industry ☒City, town, local and commercial centres ☐Retail ☐Rural development ☐Tourism ☐Culture and creativity ☐Aquaculture ☐Minerals Place and Wellbeing Outcomes ☒Movement
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☒Spaces ☒Resources ☒Civic ☒Stewardship Contact/ Further details: Mathew Spurway – Placemaking Co-Ordinator matthew.spurway@west-dunbarton.gov.uk