Testimonials

What clients have said about the work of Place At The Table

Paul was project manager of the Morvern Community Action Plan which was overall winner of the 2023 Scottish Planning Innovation Award (SPIA)

"Good planning is about navigating through competing interests - and my experience with Paul over several years is that he is totally committed to ensuring that local communities get their place at the table.  And because he has solid experience in both local authority planning and community development, he's the ideal person to help communities make the most of that opportunity."

Nick Wright
Nick Wright Planning

"Place At The Table and Imagine If provided exceptional support to the Balfron community in the production of its Local Place Plan. They have excellent knowledge of the challenging process and experience in putting together Local Place Plans. I would certainly recommend them to help support communities considering undertaking a Local Place Plan. ."

Craig Potter
Balfron Community Council Secretary

"The support we received throughout the creation of the Inchinnan Local Place Plan was fantastic. From the very beginning, Place at The Table provided clear guidance and knowledge that made what could have been an overwhelming process feel achievable. Paul’s expertise and input at every stage of the process gave us the confidence to begin developing our plan, follow the necessary steps, and see the process through to completion.

Paul's approach to community consultation was particularly helpful, ensuring that our community members understood Local Place Plans, their value, and why their input is so important in their development. The result has been a Local Place Plan that we are proud of and that we feel genuinely reflects the aspirations of our community. I am certain that we could not have produced a plan of this quality without Paul’s support."

Lacey Lindsay
Development Worker, Inchinnan Community Development Trust

"Place at the Table has supported Errol Community Council to prepare both a Local Place Plan and Community Action Plan. Paul has been incredibly knowledgeable and helpful across both projects.

For the Local Place Plan, we would not have met the required deadline for having the plan accepted and Place at the Table’s guidance was invaluable in shaping and finalising the Plan.

Paul has led the preparation of the Community Action Plan from the outset, including managing the public engagement holding workshops and drafting the Community Action Plan. Paul brought in appropriate colleagues to support and have held very inspiring and engaging workshops to ensure we get the best from the locals who have attended. His support and knowledge has been fantastic and the enthusiasm always spurs engagement and participation from others.

Place at the Table’s knowledge of planning matters and passion to help and support communities is immense and we are very lucky to have had this support."

Gary Kinniburgh
Errol Community Council

"Place at the Table offered brilliant support for our Stobswell Forum community group when we were putting together Dundee's first ever Local Place Plan. From beginning to end, they guided us carefully through the intricacies of the Scottish regulatory and planning system, helping us to clearly understand exactly what could and what could not be included in our submissions. Their work was highly professional and they often went beyond the call of duty to help us cross the finishing line. We couldn't have done it without them!"

Fionn Stevenson
Stobswell, Dundee

"Just a quick personal note to say thank you for yesterday and indeed for all your work on the plan. I think you have helped us many times to stay motivated and focussed! Whatever, the future, I do feel the process has given voice to Errol in a way not heard before. We just love the draft document which will be very useful in the taking forward not only the vision but just ensuring we do get better co-operation within the various groups."

Maria Walker
Errol, Perth and Kinross

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Consultations - Place at the Table

"As Vice Chair of the Jura Development Trust, I have had the privilege of working closely with Paul Ede during the development of our Local Place Plan (LPP). Paul has been exceptional throughout — combining professional expertise with a genuinely collaborative and community-focused approach.

His knowledge of the planning system is outstanding, and his ability to translate complex planning processes into clear, accessible language for our community has been much appreciated. He has ensured that our voices are meaningfully embedded within the LPP, navigating sensitivities with calm authority while remaining approachable and supportive. This has enabled our community to engage confidently in planning decisions that affect their future.

His support will leave a lasting positive impact on our island."

Louise Muir
Vice Chair of Jura Development Trust

"Our experience with Place at the Table in developing our Local Place Plan and Community Action Plan has been exceptional. Place at the Table played a key role in the timely delivery of this project, providing excellent guidance and planning expertise to our Steering Group.

They met the brief provided for the project imaginatively, providing clear communication at all stages, through well designed and informative webpage, e- newsletter and engagement and by effective partnership working with the Steering Group. Digital tools and effective marketing enabled the data gathering and analysis and engagement stages of the process.

They were particularly impressive in achieving positive community engagement, which was carried out extensively and creatively using a variety of methods to reach groups, stakeholders and residents. They were adept at dealing with potential areas of difficulty, providing clear guidance and skilfully ensuring that any potentially damaging conflict was averted.

Critically, whilst their planning expertise was invaluable, their attention to detail, and flexible and imaginative approach was key. They really took the time to get to know the Muckhart area and our residents, which helped ensure that our Plan effectively addresses local needs, providing our community with an impressive, place-based road map for the next 10 years.

We would have no hesitation in using Place at the Table again and have been delighted with their support throughout our project."

Marion Riddell
Muckhart Community Council Secretary

"Thank you for your inspiring presentation on Community Mapping Scotland last Thursday as part of A&B Council's first webinar on Local Place Planning.  You made it all look so easy."

Jane Metcalfe
Coll Community Council Secretary

"Argyll and Bute communities found that they had comparatively little time to understand the opportunity offered by the delivery of a Local Place Plan and then even less time to embark on the process and bring it to completion.  Worse -we had no budget to bring in expertise to support each and every community as has been done in other areas.

The Community Development team were aware of the need to act fast and were in the process of developing some webinars when we happily stumbled upon Paul.  In a very short space of time, Paul delivered for us an online webinar on how to make a map: Mapping for your LPP Webinar Recording.  This has had nearly 200 views and 40 attendees at the event.

We stayed in touch with Paul and negotiated a series of “Masterclasses” to explain all the processes in useful segments.  These were attended by over 50 members of the community, most of whom came every week,  and were similarly placed on a Council website for access to all. Local Place Plan Training | Argyll and Bute Council   These videos have collectively been viewed 150 times.

While the recordings have provided an enduring legacy and a useful permanent resource, the live sessions were engaging and included an unrecorded live QandA at which no question was too hard. Paul understands communities and he understood that this was entirely driven by voluntarism, so was kind and sought simple solutions that would meet the complex planning brief. He uses lay language to explain things clearly.

I don’t believe it is an understatement to say that any LPPs that get registered in Argyll and Bute will be in no small part to this generous sharing of expertise.   We have been able to build on this work with a local Community of Practice and an LPP bulletin and we hope that at least half of the communities who will have submitted an LPP will have been empowered to do so entirely on their own voluntary time.   This would not have been possible before.

I am pleased to be able to recommend Paul Ede of Place At The Table to you, for his speed, adaptability, customer focus and understanding of our need and the needs of our communities."

Antonia Baird
Community Development Team
Argyll and Bute Council

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Services

We provide all the services required to deliver a community-led planning process from quotation to report – and beyond, for both Community Action Plans and Local Place Plans.

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Portfolio

Past community-led plans and training delivered by or supported by Paul include support for rural and urban communities consisting of the full scope of local demographics, across the whole of Scotland.

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