Planning Reform Reaches Important Milestone, but it’s Not Over Yet 

The Planning (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 20 June. The Bill passed after three days of Stage 3 debate in Parliament, following a ‘root-and-branch’ review process which has lasted almost four years.

The passing of the Bill comes after a lengthy period of legislative scrutiny, which saw hundreds of amendments made to the form of the Bill which was introduced by the Scottish Government in December 2017. The fact that 230 amendments were made to the Bill at committee stage, and a further 150 amendments were debated in the final debate in the Parliament chamber, gives a flavour of the level of engagement that the Bill attracted, with strong views being expressed by local community groups, the development industry and the Scottish Government itself.

Some initial 'headlines' from the final Bill include the following:

• There will be no ‘equal’ or 'third party’ right of appeal. This is likely to be welcome news for the development industry which had been concerned about such a provision leading to uncertainty or increased timescales associated with new development.

• The Bill includes provisions enabling a community body, such as a community council, to prepare a Local Place Plan setting out the community body’s vision of the development and use of land in its area. Planning authorities will be required to take any registered Local Plans into account when preparing Local Development Plans.The provisions relating to Local Place Plans will be reviewed 7 years after the Bill receives Royal Assent

• Housing targets must now be included in the National Planning Framework, although the precise nature of these targets is still to be determined.

• Local Development Plans must now be reviewed at intervals of no more than 10 years, rather than every 5 years.

• Strategic Development Plans will be replaced with less formal ‘regional spatial strategies’ that will not form part of the development plan.

• Local authorities will be able to introduce control areas where planning permission would be required for the use of a dwellinghouse for the purpose of providing short-term lets.

• For developments requiring pre-application consultation, the associated planning application must be submitted no more than 18 months after the proposal of application notice.

• Local review bodies are likely to have a greater range of cases coming before them, including reviews of applications to discharge conditions attached to planning permission for local development, applications for certificates of lawfulness and applications for advertisement consents.

• There will be an enabling power for the Scottish Ministers to introduce an infrastructure levy which must be exercised within 7 years of the Bill receiving Royal Assent.The detail of any infrastructure levy will be included in any secondary legislation to follow.

• Local authorities must appoint a statutory Chief Planning Officer to oversee the local authority’s planning functions.

The Bill now goes forward for Royal Assent and will shortly become an Act. While careful analysis of its provisions will be needed, particularly by planning authorities and prospective developers, much of the detail will require to be brought forward at a later date with secondary legislation. Forthcoming planning policy will also need to be considered in light of the new legislative framework. The review and reform process is therefore not over yet.