A community action plan to create a sustainable future on the Morvern peninsula has won a top Scottish planning award.
Live Life Morvern (LLM) was named the overall champion at the 2023 Scottish Planning Innovation Awards (SPIA) at a ceremony held at Carron Dams nature reserve in Falkirk last month.
One of eight projects shortlisted for the prize, Morvern impressed the five person judging panel through both its initiative’s design and within interviews conducted with the finalists.
A joint effort by Morvern Community Council (MCC), Morvern Community Trust (MCT), and Morvern Community Development Company (MCDC), with assistance from charity Planning Aid Scotland (PAS), LLM is
the successor to Morvern’s largely successful 2011 Community Growth Plan.
After that plan helped deliver a local hydro scheme, improved shore facilities, a new school, and the Nc’nean Distillery, the new initiative has set a 2031 goal for 133 proposed actions, identified after heavy community
consultation.
The proposed actions include building a strategy to secure tradespeople in the area; improving internet connectivity in ‘not spots’; delivering additional affordable housing; and looking at options for a community-based sustainable energy source.
LLM also outlines implementation paths towards these goals, as well as ways in which the community can cooperate.
A presentation of the plan can be found on the community page of the MCDC website at www.morvern.org/community.
Paul Ede, Project Lead and Social Enterprise Manager at PAS, praised the the LLM plan, saying rural communities adapting to a net zero future was a key issue, and noted LLM had wanted to place local responses in the foreground.
He added: “Folks in Morvern really stepped up, utilising their gifts and talents to develop a robust, well thought-out plan.
“We are delighted that our shared creativity as we delivered the plan – including hybrid conversations, hiring a local worker Bonny to keep local money local, helping community members imagine their ideal Morvern ten years in the future, all supported by our own network of built environment volunteers - was recognised for its innovation at the 2023 Scottish Planning Innovation Awards, in this our 30th anniversary year as a charity.
“But we are even more delighted to see the way the plan has helped the community in Morvern turbo-charge ongoing delivery to make their local place work for people, planet and productivity. We want this action plan to
inspire other communities to do the same and even improve on our approach.”
MCC says it is now leading a Local Place Plan for Morvern based on the LLM plan, and a steering committee has been assembled, with PAS again acting as consultants.
As well as LLM, SPIA recognised Aberdeen’s Beach Masterplan with a People’s Choice award, while SPIA awards were given to projects in Fife, Dundee, and West Dunbartonshire, as well as NatureScot’s digital innovation on mapping climate change effects.
Planning Minister Joe FitzPatrick, who hosted the awards, said the SPIA winners represented ‘excellence in innovative planning’.
He added: “I am delighted at the variety of projects from across Scotland.
“The commitment to sustainable planning not only enriches environments but also the lives of people who use and live in these places.”
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