Sandwick Local Place Plan
Shaping the Future Together
From public meetings to surveys, focus groups, interest mapping and a Place Standard workshop, Sandwick residents have been offered a range of ways to say what they value about their community – and what they would like to improve.
“View over Sandwick towards Mousa and Mousa Sound” © David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0
The ongoing Sandwick Local Place Plan is led by the Sandwick Local Place Plan Group and has brought together Sandwick Community Council, Sandwick Social and Economic Development Company (SSEDco), Shetland Islands Council services, the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, community groups and local residents. The shared task is to turn local experience and priorities into community-led proposals for the future development and use of land in Sandwick.
In October 2025, a community event offered local residents the chance to learn about and take part in the Local Place Plan process. The public engagement invited residents and groups to describe how they experience the area. Discussion focused on opportunities for improvement, development challenges and what people value most about Sandwick, with the aim of identifying local priorities. There was also the opportunity to look at relevant information on Sandwick that had been gathered over the past few years to help inform participants.
The community meetings, focus groups, training, information resources, surveys, interest mapping, drop-in sessions and in-person workshops gave people different routes into the conversation. The Place Standard workshop provided a practical framework for exploring everyday issues, including local facilities and transport. The event combined open drop-ins with a more structured workshop, offering both informal and focused ways to take part.
A central challenge was explaining what a Local Place Plan can – and cannot – do. That clarity matters: the plan can record community aspirations and proposals, but it cannot guarantee that every idea will be delivered. Once completed and registered, however, it must be taken into account by the planning authority when the relevant Local Development Plan is prepared.
Organisers reported that the engagement raised the project’s profile, attracted a satisfactory level of attendance and created constructive discussion where participants actively collaborated in shaping the future priorities of their local area. It also offered a useful lesson for future engagement: combining flexible drop-ins with a structured, place-based workshop can help more people contribute. The approach could be developed further through wider input from Council services and partner agencies.
Contribution to the Shetland Partnership
- Participation: Residents had multiple ways to influence the emerging plan, from a public meeting and surveys to drop-ins and a Place Standard workshop.
- Place: Discussion connected lived experience to practical place issues, including transport, facilities, opportunities and areas for improvement.
- People: Community representatives, Shetland Islands Council staff, the Climate Hub, local groups and residents worked together to prepare a shared vision for Sandwick.