The Scottish Government is seeking views on the draft guidance on local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods
Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods can help to deliver the healthy, sustainable and resilient places required to support a good quality of life and balance our environmental impact.
The Local Living and 20 minute neighbourhood concepts aim to create places where people can meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home, by walking, wheeling or cycling.
Local Living
Local living provides people with the opportunity to meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home.
20 minute neighbourhoods
The 20 minute neighbourhood concept is one method of supporting local living.
The 20 minute neighbourhoods concept aims to provide access to the majority of daily needs within a 20 minute walk, wheel or cycle.
Benefits
Climate and environment
Local living can play an important role in balancing our relationship with nature and the environment. Providing good quality opportunities to walk, wheel or cycle to the places we need to access most regularly can help to reduce the reliance on private car use, help to cut emissions, improve air quality and provide more space for nature and biodiversity. Retrofitting and repurposing existing buildings reduces the emissions associated with new construction and retains the embodied carbon within existing structures.
Health and wellbeing
Local living can help to improve wellbeing, increasing the opportunity for people to move around in healthy ways, encouraging physical activity and social interaction and providing access to good quality greenspace.
Local economy
Planning and designing places which support a good range of local services can provide access to employment and training opportunities, increase footfall for existing businesses, help support regeneration of our town and local centres and support effective community wealth building.
Quality of life
Providing places which are attractive, vibrant and that meet the needs of local communities enhances quality of life, helping to improve social interaction, building social capital and creating resilient and diverse places.