How does this impact on Community Wellbeing? The World Health Organisation, Public Health England and the House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment all recognise that the way places are planned impacts, for good or ill, on health and wellbeing. Since 2010 local authority planning departments across Scotland have lost on average a third of their budgets, and a quarter of their staff. These are the highest cuts to any local government service by a margin of 10%. This resource pressure is making it increasingly difficult for planners to plan for good quality places that support community wellbeing. Why should the Committee focus on this as part of their future work? Research by RTPI Scotland has estimated costs of between £12.1m - £59.1m to fund the new duties placed on local authorities by the Planning Act 2019. For planning to support community wellbeing effectively requires both effective discharge of statutory duties, and capacity to support a place-based approach to broader policy and local government corporate objectives. Resourcing of planning will therefore impact significantly on its ability to support better outcomes for community wellbeing.
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