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 What is a development plan?
Our development plan contains our
plans for developing and using land.
It addresses a wide range of issues
such as housing, shopping, industry,
transport and the environment.
The development plan guides other
people’s plans and investment
strategies, and is used to assess
planning applications. It has the
following two parts.
• The structure plan
• The local plan
How important is the development plan?
Our policies in the development plan affect your everyday life. Getting
involved in preparing the plan gives you a say in the future of your
community and environment. Your opinions at this stage can be more
effective than trying to influence decisions on planning applications. This
is because planning applications are normally decided in line with the
development plan.
 What is a structure plan?
Our new structure plan will set a long-term (20 years or more) vision
for how we will change the way we use land in the area. It will include a
written statement and a map. It will not identify sites - the local plan does
that. We must prepare local plans in line with the structure plan. Structure
plans do not have detailed policies, but they broadly identify how much
development should happen and where it should take place.
We (Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council) must prepare
a joint structure plan. Scottish Ministers approved the current structure
plan in December 2001. However, the structure plan now needs to be
replaced, a process which started in February 2007. We hope that Scottish
Ministers will approve the new plan in late 2008 or early 2009.
The Planning etc.(Scotland) Act 2006
Under new planning laws (which
have not yet come into force), we
must replace structure plans with
strategic development plans. Strategic
development plans will be more
focused and deal only with the issues
we need to work together on.
Although we have started to prepare
a structure plan, we expect that regulations will allow the structure plan to be
approved as a strategic development
plan.
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Get involved in the consultation on the issue the plan should address . 
