Richard Heggie is Director of Urban Animation and personally leads all project work. He is a Member of the RTPI and has a BSC (Hons) in Town Planning and a Diploma in Urban Design.  He is the current holder of the Royal Town Planning Institute's  Planning Consultant of the Year Award. Richard founded Urban Animation in 1995 and has over 20 years experience within the public and private sectors, including 9 years at Livingston Development Corporation during a period of unprecedented new town expansion.

Richard is an associate of the TPS Planning network, working with other specialists on major development and training projects throughout the country. He is a Director of Galloway Real Estate Ltd, which deals with private rented sector housing, residential refurbishment and site finding.

He was previously a Director with JK Business Services, providing advice and start up assistance to small companies and has participated in the Business Mentoring Scotland programme operated by Scottish Enterprise.

Urban Animation undertakes work in all areas of the planning system, including planning applications, appeals and inquires, Local Plan representations, site appraisals and feasibility studies. Specialising in master planning and settlement extensions, Urban Animation now works across Scotland and occasionally beyond, promoting organic and sustainable approaches to the expansion of towns and villages.

Our approach embraces the following principles:

• local identity is ever more important in a globalised world;
• good design makes commercial sense;
• people are at the heart of good planning and urban design;
• partnership usually achieves more than confrontation;
• most basic services should be close enough for most people to walk to;
• development should not exceed environmental capacity.

Our Projects page provides detailed summaries of some of our current and completed work. Ongoing and recent projects include :

• settlement extensions at Evanton, Forres, Tomatin, Rosewell and Strathpeffer (see Projects page)
• approval for mountain bike trails, green burials and composting toilets in a Community Woodland;
• a programme of planning appraisals for Scottish Youth Hostels Association properties;
• training Councillors in Scotland on quality decision making and the new planning system (for TPS);
• success in two Planning Inquiries, acting for West Lothian Council (for TPS);
• applications for composting green and woody waste, minerals extraction and waste transfer;
• approval for housing in an Area of Great Landscape Value and Conservation Area at Torphichen;
• a successful Local Plan Inquiry achieving allocation of a housing site at Kirknewton;

 

 

 

 

Richard Heggie, Director of Urban Animation has been selected as the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Planning Consultant of the Year for 2009.

The awards recognise outstanding achievement that has advanced significantly the art and science of town planning through originality and innovation.

The judging panel said, “Richard Heggie comes across as a reflective and thoughtful planner who understands the need for a long term approach. His open and confident stance with clients enables him to contribute ideas and advice that provide advantages both to communities and developers. He displays a profound belief and understanding of what sustainable development means and how it can be delivered in the context in which he works.”

RTPI Planning Consultant of the Year Awards Ceremony 2009