Caroline Brown is Director of Scotland, Ireland, Research & Practice and Kirsty Fox Hay is Public Affairs Officer both at the RTPI.

Now that the pre-election period has begun, Scottish political pundits and enthusiasts are sharpening their pencils, poised to analyse the latest polling data and forecast what the 2026 Scottish Parliament will look like.

While we are keeping an eye on those predictions, much of RTPI Scotland’s work is less about analysis and more about conversation. In a way, our whole approach to the Planifesto has been built on just that.

The foundations for the Planifesto were forged last summer when we held workshops with our members looking at the issues facing the Scottish planning system. The notes from those conversations were developed into our set of key asks for the next Scottish Government, published in November 2025 as the RTPI Scotland Planifesto. Just to recap – in case you missed it – our Planifesto calls for a Scotland that is prosperous, resilient and equitable, and where everyone has access to safe, well-planned places and a healthy natural environment.

Conversations with members have been happening since then too, with a Housebuilders Breakfast at our Edinburgh office in February, as well as ongoing discussions with the Scottish Executive Committee and the Policy Sub-committee. These ongoing conversations are just as important as the ones last summer – helping us shape our thinking on the other policy ideas which have been emerging over that time. A very significant announcement about a new housing body for Scotland came early in the year – and there has been a lot of discussion about that. To add to those ongoing conversations, we’ve published a series of think pieces to flesh out the ideas in the Planifesto. These are absolutely intended to provoke discussion and further the discourse with members and other stakeholders.

While the Scottish Parliament recently entered the pre-election period, we have been working behind the scenes for many months to ensure our key policy asks are part of the conversation. Of course, by publishing our Planifesto early we hope our ideas have influenced the internal conversations of the Scottish political parties as they put together their party manifestos. Since then, we’ve tried to keep that conversation going with a range of politicians across different parties by attending party conferences, built environment panel events, hustings, and online events with party leaders. All of these meetings have been about picking up the conversation and building on that to remind folks about our key asks.  We’ve also been listening in to the conversations of other stakeholders too. There have been some unexpected benefits there, including a great chat with Universities Scotland about the need for more planners and a follow-on conversation with the Minister for Higher and Further Education at a Fringe event on the same topic.

As campaigning from parties ramps up, party manifestos are starting to emerge, with some headline promises already coming out. We know that planning is a key issue for many of the parties, so we are expecting coverage of housing delivery and resourcing to feature in some way. We’re looking forward to seeing what emerges and how this relates to our Planifesto asks, and we’ll be keeping notes in our Manifesto Tracker.

While all of that is keeping us busy, this pre-election period is also an opportunity to get ready for the conversations we want to have once the election is over. It is going to be important to build upon the relationships we have made so far, so we are drafting materials to welcome the new Ministers, Cabinet Secretaries and MSPs as they come into government and into the new Scottish Parliament. We’d like to continue to have a good working relationship with the Cabinet Secretary (or Minister) with responsibility for planning, and other members within the Scottish Government and across the Parliament. Post-election there will be yet more conversations to be had, events to be held and meetings to be attended.

Whether you like a chat, fancy a blether or just love a plain old chinwag, one thing’s for sure: the Planifesto conversation is going to carry on for quite a while yet.