When I started with Planning Aid Scotland in February 2025, one of my first tasks was a project based in the pretty harbour town of Stonehaven, just south of Aberdeen.

As part of its review of the conservation area, Aberdeenshire Council had asked Planning Aid Scotland to capture the views of the local community.

My colleagues had already gathered some local insights from speaking with people at the Farmer’s Market. We used this information to help design engagement sessions with pupils at Mackie Academy and a drop-in session at the Town Hall.

I had two ideas about creative techniques we could use in our engagement sessions. One was to ask people to draw a map of Stonehaven from memory, and the second was to get them to draw their own conservation area boundary using tracing paper. The former was a hit with the pupils, the latter drew in the adults.

When drawing from memory people usually depict things which are most prominent in their conscious. This is often what is most important to them. Many pupils depicted the local football pitch, the beach and the Market Square, as well as a range of shops they regularly visit.

Hearing the children talk passionately about Stonehaven and its historic assets was further proof to me that their observations are crucial to include in engagement processes like this.

The Town Hall drop-in session was well attended, and we displayed some of the pupils’ drawings and notes. Some of the attendees enjoyed the challenge of drawing their own conservation area boundaries and got stuck into contemplating the value of including or excluding certain streets.

I also received some challenging questions about planning applications in conservation areas and the materials that should be used. This is often the case, people are simply looking for clear guidance on what they can and cannot do.

Before starting this project, I had only passed through Stonehaven briefly, and knew very little about the town. By talking with local people, I have learnt a lot about the area and understand why locals love it so much.

The community is very proud of Stonehaven, which was great to experience, and the enthusiasm of the local residents really helped us with the information gathering process.

The creative engagement techniques provided a wealth of great drawings to include when developing the final report. One of our volunteers, Arushee, used her excellent Photoshop skills to overlay all the proposed boundaries drawn by attendees. This provided us with a heat map which will inform Aberdeenshire Council about the areas some locals would like to be included within the conservation area.

I really enjoyed this project because it showed me how Planning Aid Scotland’s values of collaboration and participation are lived in both the way we work together, and the way we work with communities through our projects. I would like to thank everyone who got involved!