Question reference: S5W-08477
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 29 March 2017
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Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 April 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to require an assessment of services, such as schools, public transport and medical facilities, to take place as a condition of planning consents for housing developments.
Answer
It is for individual planning authorities, in the first instance, to consider whether conditions should be attached to a permission in accordance with national guidance in Circular 4/1998. Developers should mitigate the impact of their development and Local Authorities can draw from a range of sources to support infrastructure, including the use of planning conditions and legal agreements. We have a plan led system, and Scottish Planning Policy makes clear that when identifying locations for new housing, planning authorities must take account of infrastructure requirements.
The challenge of delivering appropriate infrastructure to serve new development has been recognised in the recent consultation on the future of the Scottish planning system https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/planning-architecture/a-consultation-on-the-future-of-planning/. Responses to the consultation, which closed on 4 April, are currently being analysed and will be taken into account in preparation of a Planning Bill.