The Scottish Government has launched a major consultation into the future of the Scottish planning system.
The consultation, Resourcing a High Quality Planning System, will look into the way the planning system is resourced, both in terms of people and finances.
It will look specifically at two areas – the fees associated with planning applications, and resources at local authorities and other government agencies.
The consultation will also introduce the idea of paying for Pre Application Discussions, where developers are able to seek the advice of local planning authorities before submitting a planning application.
Katherine Sneeden, associate partner in the
“The consultation puts forward five alternative fee structures. Two of the ideas – allowing local authorities to charge on a time spent basis and allowing local authorities complete freedom to set their own fee levels – would be potentially disastrous.
“The temptation would be for local authorities to view planning applications as a revenue generation measure to the detriment of future development.
“We recently saw a 10% increase in fees and a further 10% increase has been proposed as part of government research, which I believe most developers will be happy to pay as long as they see an improved level of service from local planning departments. The consultation does not preclude further more significant increases in the future”
The consultation period runs until 15 October 2010.
nathan.cross@estatesgazette.com
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