Our approach to change-making is grounded in the belief that communities must be empowered to shape the future of the places where they live.
In the work we do on the planning system, we focus on the intersection of environmental protection, social justice, and participatory democracy, working to ensure that people across Scotland—especially those in less affluent urban-edge communities—can play a meaningful role in land-use decisions that affect their wellbeing, access to nature, and community resilience.
Our strategy combines practical grassroots support, policy engagement, and movement building:
1. Practical support and capacity building
We provide direct advice and training to individuals and communities engaging with Scotland’s planning system. Many of these groups face significant barriers: lack of confidence and technical knowledge; isolation and imbalance of power; and limited access to legal or planning expertise. By employing a dedicated Planning Specialist, APRS ensures communities have the best chance to have their voices heard. We deliver webinars, training days, written guidance, and bespoke advice, equipping people with the skills and knowledge to influence local decision-making.
2. Policy engagement and advocacy
We take the insights from our community support work and use them to change policy for the better. By working both “outside track” with communities and “inside track” with policymakers, we bridge the gap between lived experience and legislation. For example, last year brought a major success when all four long-running Green Belt community campaigns we had supported as test cases (spanning 3–9 years) saw planning refused. Evidence from these cases had directly influenced stronger protections for Green Belts in the Planning System (NPF4), securing greater safeguards nationwide after years of APRS campaigning. This improved protection, in turn, influenced the decision-making in the test-cases.
3. Movement building through the Green Belts Alliance
Our Green Belts Alliance is a hub for grassroots leaders and groups across Scotland and has the potential to do much more. By connecting campaigners, we share experience, amplify their collective voice, and build momentum for more sustainable, democratic approaches to land use. The demand for our webinars and networking opportunities shows the scale of untapped energy in communities to protect their environments. We really wish to do more in this area.
Justice is intrinsic to our work.
Many of Scotland’s least affluent communities are located on the urban fringe—precisely where damaging development pressures are greatest and access to nature is most at risk. These communities often feel dis-empowered and unheard in decision-making processes that affect their quality of life.
APRS works to redress this imbalance by:
Building power in communities through knowledge-sharing, skills development, networking and bespoke support. Our main goals in this area of work are: A) to Build Awareness of how communities can engage in planning issues, and B) to Empower Action from those communities. In 2024/25, a volunteer-led evaluation found those we worked with reported greater understanding of the planning system and a 32% increase in confidence to act.
Challenging systemic exclusion by advocating for greater community influence in local development plans and in the Planning System more generally. For example by proposing policy reforms that prioritise community voice, biodiversity, climate action, and equitable access to green space; and by advocating for equal right of appeal, and a rights-based approach alongside our partners Planning Democracy and ERCS.
Creating new narratives that link landscape and countryside, not only to environmental goals, but also to social equity and community wellbeing. Landscape has always been the product of natural and human processes, and thinking in landscape terms helps us create solutions to a thriving future for both people and nature. Our evaluation showed key community concerns bridged the environment and social, including greenspace loss (20%), wellbeing (18%), and environmental impacts (18%).
Evaluating our work in this area
Over the course of a year in 2024/25 a volunteer specialist evaluated our work supporting grassroots and community groups and individuals to engage with the planning system. This was through a combination of online guidance, webinars and training, an in-person event with networking and bespoke advice on campaigners specific projects. Our aims in this work had been: Firstly equipping people with greater understanding and knowledge of the planning system. And secondly to give people greater confidence to intervene in land-use decision making locally. A third, longer term aim was to influence legislation and policy around land-use and development planning that supports good decision making, including listening to community voice.
The evaluation found that, with an additional day of staff time (doubling our resource), we responded to around 60 planning enquiries across 18 local authorities, half related to Green Belts. Our online guidance was accessed over 700 times. Key community concerns included greenspace loss (20%), well being (18%), and environmental impacts (18%). Our webinars and events reached 168 people live, with over 200 hours of online views. Attendees reported greater understanding of the planning system and a 32% increase in confidence to act. We also achieved a major win from a long term project to change how the planning system worked and, as a result, five local campaigns we had been supporting for as long as nine years, won their cases.