Loudoun Castle future development guidelines go to public consultation
The latest piece of Supplementary Guidance to sit alongside East Ayrshire Council’s recently adopted Local Development Plan 2 (LDP2), has gone out to public consultation.
Loudoun Castle and Estate Supplementary Guidance is a comprehensive document outlining the extraordinary historical and environmental assets of what is described as a rural “miscellaneous development opportunity site ”.
A six week long public consultation into the Supplementary Guidance is now being held before the final document is adopted as part of LDP2.
With the A listed Loudoun Castle, nationally recognised garden and designed landscape, the site demands special consideration for any future planning applications. This was already supported with TOUR6 a detailed policy listed in the Council’s Local Development Plan2. Compilation of this new Supplementary Guidance, which will shortly go out to public consultation before a final draft is submitted, will make sure that, in line with the ethos behind local development plans, proper consideration is given to all the unique aspects of the land and its structures.
Explaining the need for the new guidance, Pamela Clifford, Chief Planning Officer, East Ayrshire Council, said: “LDP2 is the last of our local development plans to be issued in its current format – where an LDP can be supplemented by additional statutory guidance for specific sites and aspects of the environment. For this supplementary guidance we’ve gone into greater detail than our previous plans for Loudoun Castle and Estate.
“In recognition that we’ll soon be embarking on LDP3, which will take a different format, in line with the new Scottish Government National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), we have set out the context of the site and how it sits with both LDP2’s spatial strategy and the NPF4 policies.
“This more comprehensive document includes maps and detailed information on the site’s assets, its listed buildings, local nature conservation site, ancient woodland, tree preservation orders and the garden and designed landscape. This will help encourage current and future developers to make sure any plans are sensitive to these important features.
“At the same time it also identifies the parts of the estate with the greatest development potential, setting out features which must be taken into account – all of this is designed to make that assets are protected, helping both developers and planners to agree on a high quality, coherent, manageable and viable way forward for any development applications.
“It’s all part of our recognition that safeguarding our built and natural heritage we need to work with people and communities, adopting a sensitive approach with a common goal of helping realise economic and net zero potential to help with that preservation and boost wealth and wellbeing for the benefit of all.”
The document is now undergoing a six week public consultation, which runs from 5 July until 16 August, before being submitted to Scottish Government Ministers for final approval and adoption. It will then form part of any future decision making process for Loudoun Castle Estate.