Scotland moves to overhaul its planning system
The drive to make Scotland’s planning system more user-friendly and up-to-date has taken a major step forward with consultation announced on proposals for third-party appeals and the reform of the plan-making regime.
These moves came as the Scottish Executive published Scotland’s first-ever National Planning Framework.
Communities minister Margaret Curran said there were "real grounds for concern over delays in decision-making and failing to keep plans up to date".
On the agenda are proposals for a statutory requirement to review development plans at least once every five years.
Curran stressed that Scottish ministers remain neutral at this stage about whether Scotland should introduce a form of third party appeal. Such a move has been rejected south of the Border.
The National Planning Framework highlights West Edinburgh and the Clyde Corridor as areas where major changes are occurring and where the complexity of the issues demands a coordinated response "in the national interest".
The East Coast has been identified as a strategic corridor where investment in transport infrastructure is needed to help unlock development potential and improve the prospects for regeneration.
View the 'National Planning Framework for Scotland'.
View the consultation paper 'Rights of Appeal in Planning: partial regulatory impact assessment'.
View the consultation paper 'Making Development Plans Deliver: a consultation document'.
Roger Milne
8th April 2004
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