The speaker was Mr Ian Kelly MRTPI of W S Atkins Consultants Ltd. He described to us how the strategy of town planning had changed over the past three decades. In the late Seventies and early Eighties, when he worked in Airdrie and Coatbridge, intervention was in vogue. Local authorities acquired the sites and by means of grants and other inducements persuaded others to develop them to their overall plan. Indeed in some cases they developed the sites themselves.

In the Eighties, when he worked in Fife, the council resolved to support initiatives from commercial and business organisations, and effectively supported them with the provision of services and infrastructure, thus bringing jobs and appropriate developments to their region. In the Nineties he moved to Inverness and became involved in the development of small towns in the area, particularly in Easter Ross.

Here he learned the importance of having initiatives run by local people, frequently supported by Enterprise Trusts. These could only be really effective as activators as well as planners, if they had a local "Champion" supported by a steering group to keep the momentum going.

 Steering groups should be representative of all major opinions and organisations in the burgh such as Community Councils, Traders Groups and amenity bodies. By working with other similar groups, it was possible to share problems and obtain Article 10 grants from the EU.

Mr Kelly felt that something on those lines was appropriate for Kinross. Indeed he strongly recommended avoiding going to the Secretary of State on major planning matters as this lost local control.

After a short break there was a question-and-answer session with considerable debate. A wide variety of questions were asked on such matters as Tourism, Car Parking, Relief Roads and acquisition of vacant property.

He felt the Kinross Study which was produced by the local authority, was too ambitious and would not be able to attract full funding. He urged that a list of realistic priories to be drawn up.

 The most disturbing point raised in the discussion was the announcement that the Kinross Management Group had been turned down for a grant from the Lottery Fund for the conversion of the Town Hall into a cultural centre for Kinross. This was mainly because this branch of the Lottery did not support museums and libraries. Mr Kelly was not able to produce an instant answer to the problem., though he did point out that the Arts Council did have money for distribution for "Arts" developments. Mr Kelly was warmly thanked for his most eloquent and informative talk and all those present were given much to think about both in the general and the Kinross context. Donald Erskine