RTPI Scotland

About RTPI Scotland

Creating great places for people

RTPI Scotland has delegated powers to run RTPI affairs in Scotland. This enables us to work directly with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament who legislate for the separate planning system in Scotland.

Annual Report

You can read our Annual Report for 2012 here. Highlights include:

56 events have been held across Scotland, the very large majority of which were either free or low cost.
21 responses have been submitted to consultation documents issued by Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and other bodies.
Oral evdience has been given to the Scottish Parliament once and written evidence given on 4 occasions
5 Briefing Papers have been published
2 Convenor’s discussions have been held looking at new ways in which planning can help to deliver development
the Scottish Forum for Planning has been established bringing together 16 key national organisations to discuss planning issues.
RTPI Scotland has been involved in advisory groups including those dealing with the 3rd National Planning Framework, the Town Centres Review and the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill
A new, improved website has been launched
RTPI Scotland now has over 830 followers on Twitter
6 editions of Scottish Planner have been published, including the 150th edition

Mission and objectives

RTPI Scotland's mission is to support people and organisations to create great places for people across Scotland.

We aim to lead thinking in how planning can create great places for people. We do this by:

responding to policy consultations from Scottish Government, agencies and other organisations
discussing planning issues with policy makers including Ministers, MSPs and Civil Servants
raising the profile of planning and The RTPI in the media
stimulating debate through organising discussions and publishing briefing papers to take forward thinking on planning issues
supporting Scottish Government to organise awards to identify innovation and good practice

We aim to support RTPI members to develop their skills and knowledge. We do this through:

organising events such as our Annual Conference, the Sir Patrick Geddes Commemorative Lecture, our breakfast masterclasses, Planning Interchange events and RTPI Network events
organising local, free or low cost events across Scotland through our seven Chapters
organising events and support for young planners through the Scottish Young Planners Network, including the Scottish Young Planners Annual Conference
working with organisations to coordinate CPD provision for planners
supporting Planning Aid for Scotland and Built Environment Forum Scotland to provide CPD opportunities for our members

We broker dialogue and action across the range of players involved in planning. We do this through:

establishing and managing the Scottish Forum for Planning to examine policy and practice issues
supporting the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Architecture and the Built Environmentto engage MSPs with our members
bringing together training providers, academia, employers and practitioners to identify approaches to skills development through the Scottish Planning Education Forum
supporting the Scottish Planning Consultants Forum to discuss and influence planningissues

We make sure our members and stakeholders know what we are doing. We do this by:

publishing our bi-monthly journal Scottishplanner
ensuring that our website provides up-to-date information on our work, events and publications
using social media such as Twitter and Linked In
working with the media and issuing press releases

Scottish Executive Committee

Our work is managed through the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) and implemented by the National Director and staff team based at the Edinburgh office. The SEC's remit includes: