Being designated a site of national importance could see Dundee’s job growth needs catered for over the next two decades, according to the council’s director of city development.
Mike Galloway was speaking after Planning Minister Derek Mackay unveiled the Scottish Government’s planning policy, which aims to place more emphasis on jobs and economic benefits to help deliver sustainable economic growth.
The third National Planning Framework (NPF3) and draft Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) will influence development plans across Scotland and guide future planning decisions on a range of sectors including transport, energy and infrastructure.
Dundee Waterfront is cited as an area of national importance and Longannet in Fife retains national development status as carbon capture and storage technology is developed.
For the first time Scottish Planning Policy will include references to maps of Scotland’s wild land drawn up by Scottish Natural Heritage.
In addition, ministers propose extending the separation distance between windfarms and cities, towns and villages.
Proposals also include strengthening environmental protection against windfarms in the 31% of Scotland deemed to be covered by the wildest and most scenic land, including no windfarms in the 19% of Scotland covered by National Parks and National Scenic Areas.
Mr Galloway said gaining the status was “very important” both to make it easier to take forward future planning of the Waterfront and to access funding from the likes of Scottish Enterprise.
He said: “What we expect is that other investors, other developers, other new businesses will come into Dundee on the back of what’s happening already. The amount of office spaces that we have allocated within the Waterfront is the equivalent to 13 Alliance Trust buildings. That gives you an idea of the scale of it.
“There’s enough capacity there to cater for Dundee’s growth requirements for a good 10 to 20 years. The total Waterfront project is estimated to create 9,500 jobs.”
At Olympia, where he made the announcement, Mr Mackay said the proposals would offer potential investors “a degree of certainty” about setting up shop on the Tay.