Changes to the planning system

In 2009 there were major changes made to the Scottish planning system. The key changes are:

Hierarchy of developments

This splits proposals into three categories:

  • national development
  • major development
  • local development

This is to make sure that applications are dealt with appropriately for their scale and complexity. The time period for dealing with major developments is four months and local developments are two months.

Pre-application consultation

All national and major developments need pre-application consultation with communities, including community councils. A 'Proposal of Application Notice' needs to be sent to us at least 12 weeks before the submission of a national or major planning application. This can be done using ePlanning Scotland.

Processing applications

Neighbour notification is carried out by us, however, applicants must notify the site owners.

Design and access statements must be submitted for national and major developments. They are also needed for certain types of local development if they will affect the built and natural environment, in places such as the New Lanark World Heritage Site, conservation areas or designed landscapes. 

Planning permission lasts for three years although permissions granted before Monday 3 August 2009 last for five years.

Planning appeals and local review body

The period of appeal against a decision for all applications is three months.

There is a Planning Local Review Body of up to seven councillors which deals with appeals for local developments that have been decided by Council officers. However, applications decided by an Area Committee or the Planning Committee have the right to appeal to the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals.

Post decision

Developers can be required to give us notification of when they start and complete a development. This gives us the opportunity to assess whether or not they have complied with the conditions imposed on the consent. 

These changes are explained in the planning guidance notes.

A detailed explanation of the changes can be found on the Scottish Government's Planning pages.

For more information contact your local Planning and Building Standards office.