How planners rode to Scottish Borders' rescue

by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

If it is possible to have a glittering career in town and country planning, then Dr Douglas Hope would certainly fit into that category, much of his life spent either tackling the persistent issues which were stifling the Scottish Borders economy or settling often controversial disputes in his role as a Scottish Government reporter.

While many of the nation's planning officers may have tended to operate within their own professional 'bubble', Douglas Hope was adept at 'selling' the product to the rest of society, including journalists he encountered and helped during countless launches of new policies, or bringing his measured views when strong feelings emerged over contentious developments.

Now, after years of research, he has used his 50 years of experience at the planning coalface to produce a fascinating history of the evolution of his trade in the four Borders counties between 1946 and 1996.

Dr Hope's work, entitled Scottish Borders: from Planning Backwater to Centre of the Maelstrom, shows how town and country planning in the counties of Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire and Berwickshire was transformed in the post-war decades to become "a beacon for rural regeneration and development policy."

Publishers Edinburgh University Press explain in their media release to mark the launch: "The book compares and contrasts the different ways in which the four counties attempted to deal with the decline in the regions traditional industries, woven textiles and agriculture, and the loss of population since 1891. 

"It explores the origins of the Tweedbank development, the plan for a controversial new settlement at Newtown St. Boswells and the closure of the Waverley line. It explains how planning and economic development became inexorably linked in an effort to stem depopulation."

Dr Hope describes how, in partnership with a range of organisations, the Borders Regional Council, established in 1975, met the challenges of the 1980s and 1990s and secured investment and implemented proposals across the whole spectrum of development planning. 

"The book details how environmental issues came to the fore and, with the reorganisation of local government in 1996 and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 looming, examines the role of the Planning and Development Department in preparing for the challenges of the twenty-first century."

It was all so different in the early decades after World War Two. Most local authorities did not have qualified planners on their payrolls let alone strategies for dealing with the problems blighting their communities.

The Borders was fortunate in the 1960s and 1970s to have individuals like Basil Knowles, Frank Constable and David Douglas who all played their part in promoting the role of planning, raising its profile and making sure the public knew what they were trying to achieve.

Douglas Hope became part of that process and carried it on right up to 1996 when Borders Regional Council was abolished to make way for the one-stop-shop local authority Scottish Borders Council.

These days, following a 20-year stint with the Scottish Government as a Reporter for the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals, Douglas publishes articles on his own website, scottishbordersplanning.co.uk. Here you can read Douglas's own description of his new, major work.

He writes: "The book provides a comprehensive appraisal of the changing role of planning in the Scottish Borders during this time [1946-1996] and describes how planning evolved from simply a system of land use control to a dynamic, pro-active, multi-disciplined collaboration encompassing not only spatial planning but also economic development and promotion, project design and implementation, urban conservation, rural heritage and countryside management, and environmental planning."

He points out how the book describes the principal characteristics of the Scottish Borders in terms of its development prior to the twentieth century. It traces the origins of town and country planning in Britain and the establishment of the planning system in the region. 

"It compares and contrasts the different ways in which the four counties implemented the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947 and details the principal policies and proposals in the first county development plans. It describes how planning in the Scottish Borders broadened its horizons in the 1960s as “Planning” in its widest sense took centre stage and more attention was paid by Central Government to the plight of rural areas such as the Scottish Borders with the preparation of the Central Borders Study and the Tweedbank initiative. It details how planning and economic development in the region became inexorably linked."

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