Affordable, accessible and sustainable transport and infrastructure are crucial to the economy and wellbeing of every community.
Cities Alive: Towards a Walking World, published by Arup, shows why making places easier to walk around can be popular with communities and good for local economies. It provides evidence and examples to help elected members and senior offices demonstrate positive leadership on what can be a controversial topic locally.
Ireland‘s changing demographics have major implications for Irish society for the foreseeable future. This briefing explores how local authorities can pioneer innovative strategies to target issues that need to be addressed to promote positive ageing.
The Independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has published its annual progress report for 2016. This briefing will outline findings from the report and is relevant for those in local authorities who wish to stay up to date with the latest progress in climate change policy implementation.
Work is underway in preparing Ireland’s draft National Planning Framework, and Scotland’s Third National Planning Framework has been cited as a potential model for its Irish counterpart. This paper compares and contrasts the two frameworks, with particular reference to planning for new national infrastructure.
Rural proofing is necessary to ensure that Ireland’s rural communities are not disadvantaged by their location. This briefing considers to what extent rural issues are now at the forefront of policy decisions and explores how local authorities in Scotland with similar issues are responding.
Ireland faces infrastructure challenges which continue to restrain the country's capacity to be among the most competitive globally. The situation is similar in Scotland, which recently published an Independent Review of Planning from which relevant comparisons can be drawn.
Inclusive growth refers to a type of economic growth that benefits everyone. The idea of inclusive growth has emerged amidst growing concerns about rising global inequality and a perception that economic growth does not automatically 'trickle down' to benefit all echelons of society.
The government is giving more weight to neighbourhood plans and refining the role of local planning authorities through what it calls ‘streamlining’ reforms. New regulations come into force on 1 October. Ministers have launched a consultation on further changes set out in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill published on 7 September.
Scotland faces a major challenge linking infrastructure delivery and planned development. This briefing examines why, and what options exist for improving the links and creating certainty of delivery to help implement local development plans.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has published its second State of the UK Public Parks report which shows that many local authorities in Scotland and the rest of the UK face a growing problem of how best to manage their parks and green spaces in times of austerity.
