to benefit from Bill

By Bruce Robbins

ONE OF Scotland’s top property consultancies has expressed concern about the increased workload that might fall on Dundee planners and their colleagues in other local authorities under new planning proposals announced last week by the Scottish Executive.

The Planning (Scotland) Bill has been designed to slash red tape by grading planning applications according to their national, major, local or minor importance.

While welcoming the proposals, Bidwells said it appeared they would swing the balance “marginally in favour of the development industry.”

Bidwells’ head planner for Scotland, John Carnie, said there was a need to make the planning system work more efficiently as well as delivering economic development benefits, with more focus on the customer and the market.

But he added, “This culture change in planning is to be welcomed as an essential accompaniment to legislative change, although I am concerned about how the change will be achieved and the burden put on already overstretched local authority planning departments.”

Under the proposals, objectors would still be able to challenge the details of national developments, but not the need for them.

It would mean years could be cut off the time needed to plan and build a new Forth road bridge, for example.

Other major developments, like large housing or retail developments and some wind farms, would require a contract between the planning authority and the applicant setting out a decision’s timescale.

Council officials would be able to decide on the bulk of local planning applications without involving councillors as long as they are in line with local development plans.

A large number of minor projects, like changes to private homes, would no longer require planning permission.

The Scottish Executive has also estimated 51,000 of the 52,000 planning applications now in the system would be decided locally, as well as around half of the 800 appeals determined on a national basis.

Mr Carnie added, “At long last the language of business and marketing, once the preserve of the business boardroom, is being taken seriously in planning legislation, and will be discussed in our council chambers.”