The visit builds on growing collaboration between planning aid organisations across the UK, with discussions exploring new approaches to supporting public participation in planning

Planning Aid Scotland announced a new leave allowance to support staff members wanting to volunteer their time outside the organisation – read about Kim’s experience

Play – here, there, everywhere! That’s the theme of this year’s Playday, which highlights the importance of planning quality spaces for play, like play parks. This year, Planning Aid Scotland volunteers are supporting Play Scotland to gather feedback from children and young people about their local play parks – how they use them, what they enjoy, and what could be better.

This year, to mark Volunteers’ Week, we hosted an in-person workshop focussed on an area volunteers often tell us they want to develop: community engagement

To celebrate Earth Day and highlight the power of locally led environmental action, we spoke with Annie Tordoff, a Planning Aid Scotland board member and Director of Morvern Community Trading Company. Annie took us through the impact of community-led planning in Morvern and how, through developing locally led plans, the community refined a shared vision for the future of the peninsula, with sustainability and climate resilience at its heart.

From restoring native oyster habitat to delivering the UK’s largest 100% community-owned hydro project, the story of Morvern is one of hard work, persistence and, importantly, community pride.