Falkirk residents to help shape future as consultation opens on new local plan

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Falkirk residents are being asked to help shape the future of the district by telling Falkirk Council's planning team how they feel about their own communities.

An online survey urging people to 'tell us about your place' is now live on the council's website. The planning team wants to know whether residents feel safe and happy or if they feel their area has been run down and neglected. READ MORE: Falkirk Council says trees ripped out of Helix Park for new road will be replaced This is just the first stage of a journey to update a document that will play a vital role in how the Falkirk area grows and changes in the longer term.The current Local Development Plan - LDP2 as it is commonly known - is the second plan to set out a vision for what the council area will look like over the next few years.But the plan needs refreshed every few years and work is already starting to prepare a third.The LDP is a blueprint for where new housing will go, where roads, schools or medical centres are needed and how parks, paths and green spaces can be improved.All of this has to be balanced with meeting climate change targets and making neighbourhoods attractive and convenient for everyone - not just car users.Anyone who has ever battled a planning application - either for or against - will learn quickly just how important the local development plan is.

And many will realise that by the time an application is made, many of the most important decisions have already been taken as part of the LDP.Most housing developments, for example, will have been considered and approved as part of the development plan, long before any planning application is made."This is people's chance to be involved in creating that overarching plan," said