Rural Fife

Rural Communities in Fife

Dedicated coaching and training to help rural communities in Fife develop their own Local Place Plan

We are delighted to announce that further funding has been made available to support rural groups in Fife all the way to December 2023. The support includes dedicated mentoring for rural groups, and a series of training seminars and a learning cohort group which are open to all.

PAS is working with Fife Local Action Group (LAG) to support community groups in their Local Place Plan journey. We have more than a decade of experience in working for and alongside communities as they lead their own Community Action Plans and Local Place Plans.

As an educational charity, we provide training and coaching to communities and practitioners about community engagement projects.

This program is an initiative of the Fife Local Action Group funded by the Rural Fife Development Fund (RFDF). The RFDF is funded by the Scottish Government.

Click on the video below to meet our trainer Paul as he explains more about what’s on offer.

What support is on offer?

Three pillars of support are available until December 2023, provided free of charge to eligible groups. Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

  • Seminars: A series of five free, open-access online training sessions to support you as you develop your LPP. Open to all.
  • Learning cohort: Connecting you to other community groups across Fife who are in the same boat – an opportunity for mutual support and dedicated input from professionals. Open to all.
  • Mentoring: The opportunity for mentoring sessions specific to your group to help bring energy and tackle issues that you are wrestling with in your context. Open to qualifying rural groups.

Eligibility

Seminars and the Learning Cohort are open to all community groups in Fife.  The dedicated mentoring sessions are only open to community groups located in rural areas of Fife.

A rural community that has previously qualified for the former rural LEADER programme is considered eligible for both mentoring and training sessions. Please contact us if you are unsure if you qualify for mentoring.

Sign Up

To register your group for the learning cohort and/or mentoring programme, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us here:

A full list of training opportunities is laid out below, along with links for self-registration.

Additional Information  

Join the Fife Council LPP mailing list here: LPP@fife.gov.uk

We have also developed a free Guide for Community Delivery of Local Place Plans.

 

Upcoming training events – all online, August and September 2023

Not all communities are starting from the same point as they prepare an LPP.  Some are starting from scratch.  Some already have a recent Community Action Plan or other community-wide plan.  This session will help you understand how to start from where you are, with practical tools to do so.

Local Place Plans are designed to enable community groups to argue for local proposals to be included in the new Fife Local Development Plan. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) will be one of the key documents influencing the forthcoming Local Development Plan. Knowing how to argue the case for your proposal to be included will be significantly strengthened by understanding NPF4 and applying relevant policies to your reasoned argument in support of your proposal. These seminars are designed for community groups preparing an LPP, but will also be of interest to all who have a desire to understand more about the framework that informs the current planning system.

Please note: these three sessions will not feature the same content. Instead, each of the three sessions will deal with different aspects of NPF4. You could therefore attend all sessions and have an overview of the whole document and its meaning for LPPs without duplicating any information received. But attending one or two of these as stand-alone sessions will also be meaningful.

The coming years are critical for ensuring that Scotland moves to a net-zero carbon economy (mitigation) and prepares itself to be resilient to the impacts of our changing climate (adaptation).  Find out more about how to ensure your LPP can consider and achieve these aims for your place. This session will be delivered in partnership with Climate Action Fife.

 

What is a Local Place Plan?

A Local Place Plan (LPP) is a new type of community-led plan, introduced by Section 14 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. This gives communities the opportunity to come up with proposals for the development and use of land in their local area. Communities work with others to reach a shared view on how the area should change in the future.

Local Place Plans relate to development and the use of land. Examples of the issues that they might address include:

  • proposals for new homes (including affordable), local employment, tourism or community facilities
  • sites which help support new renewable energy projects, or climate change adaptation measures, such as flood mitigation
  • improvements to town and neighbourhood centres
  • improvements to open space, play facilities and active travel
  • conservation of the natural and built environment
  • land for community food growing

You can read more about Local Place Plans on fife.gov.uk/localplaceplans

 

Fife Council’s call for Local Place Plans

Local Place Plans must be taken into account by the planning department during the development cycle of a new Local Development Plan.

Fife Council issued an invitation to community groups to prepare Local Place Plans in May 2022. The current deadline for finalising a Local Place Plan for inclusion in the FIFEPlan 2 Local Development Plan process is January 2024. It is with this in mind that the council is committed to offering support to interested rural groups as early as possible on their journey.

“The mentoring was very helpful in understanding where we are currently!”

Priya Logan, Largo Communities Together