Planning for the future: a Scottish perspective

Scotland’s Chief Planner, John McNairney, finds that increasing the level of community involvement leads to less litigation. He spoke at the eolas planning seminar on the Scottish experience of planning reform.

John McNairney, Chief Planner for the Scottish Government, told delegates attending eolas’ planning seminar that there must be a total buy-in at community level if there was to be any hope of a planning system meeting the targets that it set out to achieve.

“This is the basic model that we have strived to follow since devolution,” he added. “It is one that gives people greater ownership of the areas in which they live. Consents achieved in this way are much more meaningful. A bottom-up approach to planning also helps generate a much less litigious atmosphere, where planning matters are concerned.

“Our over-arching aim is to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish by increasing sustainable economic growth through legislation, policies, actions and decisions.

“In this context, good planning will help drive sustainable growth. We are striving to put in place a system that is fit for purpose, efficient, inclusive and sustainable.”

John McNairney went on to point out that a key feature of the planning reforms in Scotland has been the promotion of a plan-led system to guide actions and decisions in the long-term public interest.

This includes the National Planning Framework plus strategic and local development plans. In essence, this is a very hierarchical system. Scotland’s Third National Planning Framework will be published in June 2014. The document will set out the Scottish Government’s aspirations for the long-term development of the country.

“Where new national developments are proposed, we will seek early engagement with the communities which could be affected,” John McNairney confirmed.

The 2006 Planning Act in Scotland introduced strategic development plans (SDPs) for the four largest city regions:

• Aberdeen;

• Dundee;

• Edinburgh; and

• Glasgow.

The Scottish Government recognises the potential contribution that cities and their regions make to sustainable economic growth. It also wishes to ensure that the current procedural arrangements and approaches to the preparation of SDPs are fit for purpose and will therefore review the experience of the first generation of these plans in 2013.

Local development plans provide the vision for how communities will grow and develop in the future. The intention is that they will provide certainty for communities and investors alike about where development should take place and where it should not and the supporting infrastructure required for growth.

“In the plan-led system that we aspire to, up-to-date coverage of plans is essential and the plans also need to be clear and accessible to all stakeholders,” John McNairney further explained.

“There is substantial pressure now being exerted to ensure that all areas of Scotland have their respective local development plans in place. Significantly, these visions for the future are to be about ‘place and people’ rather than policy.

Full involvement

“There is also a commitment to ensure that communities are fully involved in the process,” he continued. “One route to greater stakeholder ownership of place-making is to adopt the highly successful design ‘charrette’ method into development plan preparation, involving people and their aspirations, thereby leading to the future development of places of which everyone can be proud.”

John McNairney also confirmed that there is no third party planning appeals system in Scotland.

“If a planning applicant does not agree with the council’s decision or does not agree with a condition attached to the planning permission, he or she can ask for a review or appeal of the decision. Applicants can also ask for a review or appeal if the council doesn’t make a decision within the time period set by law. No-one else has the right to ask for a review or appeal,” he said.

“Depending on who made the decision regarding the application, an appeal against a decision can be to either a local review body or to Scottish ministers. If the application was decided by a planning officer on behalf of the council, applicants can require the decision to be reviewed by the local review body, which is a group of councillors. If the decision on the application was made by councillors, the applicant can appeal to Scottish ministers.”

Seminar delegates were also informed of the growing trend in Scotland of submitting planning applications

online, by way of the Scottish Government’s ePlanning website (eplanning.scotland.gov.uk).

“The primary objectives of the ePlanning programme are to drive maximum efficiencies by working across a number of organisations, facilitating shared services, standardising forms, communication and processes, and sharing best practice,” John McNairney continued.

“In essence, the ePlanning programme provides a range of online services for both members of the public and professionals, with the aim of offering a complete planning service from initial enquiries, applications, decisions and, where applicable, through to the appeal process.”

Looking to the future, the Scottish Government representative stressed the need for a more streamlined planning system.

“This will entail the removal of as many barriers as possible while, at the same time, establishing performance frameworks and putting in place the means by which we can measure the success achieved,” he concluded.

“The framework will capture the elements of a high performing planning service and embraces issues such as efficiency, customer relations and quality of outcomes.”