Callander's Place Plan

2023 Update. The Callander Local Place Plan is now complete and is available here. We will be updating this website in coming months to share progress on the implementation of the plan.

Welcome to our Local Place Plan website. Over the next 18 months we will be asking Callander residents to let us know how they would like our town to develop in the future.

Callander’s Community Action Plan expires next year. Loch Lomond National Park (LLTTNP) have invited the community to produce a Local Place Plan. We will be working closely with the Park Development Planning Department as we progress through the process. We are also sharing knowledge with other communities across the Park. We aim to have Callander’s Place Plan ready by the end of 2022, for inclusion in LLTTNP’s Local Development Plan.

This will be the go-to place to find out how you can take part in our consultations and what we are finding out as we progress through the research. We have also compiled a wide range of statistics which tell you where Callander is now, in terms of population, housing, business, tourism, facilities, green spaces and environmental impacts.

Some simple answers to some complex questions

What is a Local Place Plan?

The simple answer is that a Local Place Plan is a list of achievable priorities defined by the majority of the local community around what they need and want in their neighbourhood.

Obviously it’s slightly more complicated than that, and if you want to know more you can do so here.

How is a Place Plan different from the Community Action Plan?

The simple answer is that the Scottish Government have put legislation in place to protect and support community aspirations. Every local place plan must be given weight in the planning authority’s Local Development Plans. Community Actions Plans were expressions of a community’s ambitions but were not always fully considered in Local Development Plans.

Place Plans and planned Government policy - a longer read

So, what can we ask for?

Although the official focus of these plans is on land and housing development, we can ask that existing plans are altered or scrapped altogether. We can protect our precious green spaces, our environment, our air quality, our neighbourhoods.

Give me some examples.

We could ask:

  • that new build housing cannot be used for holiday lets
  • that safer walking and cycling routes to the McLaren campus are created as a matter of urgency
  • that transport links with Stirling, Larbert, and our neighbouring communities are improved
  • that Callander becomes a 20-minute neighbourhood by building a second footbridge/cycle path over the Teith connecting the east end with the McLaren campus
  • that any new housing development must include affordable rent to buy, or low-cost starter homes
  • that a viable flood plan is implemented immediately
  • that we put local needs above those of visitors through community-led tourism
  • that land currently earmarked for visitor attractions includes Planning Gain for community facilities
  • that Callander is ready for a low carbon future: ready to charge electric vehicles and has energy efficient homes with low carbon heating solutions.

These are just suggestions; the final choice will be yours.

Who is running this consultation?

The Callander Local Place Plan steering group will be overseeing this consultation. The group members are drawn from the following organisations: Callander Community Council, Callander Community Development Trust. Callander Primary School, McLaren High School, McLaren Leisure Centre, CYP, Callander Medical Practice and Callander Enterprise.

What is the timetable?

The process is due to run from September 2021 to October 2022. You can see how we will be carrying out the public consultations here.