Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 6 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether the climate emergency is a material consideration in Scotland's planning system.
All planning applications are required to be determined in accordance with the relevant development plan unless material planning considerations justify a departure from the development plan.
Whilst it is for decision makers to decide what considerations are material to, and what weight to attach to each consideration in, the determination of a planning application, Scottish Government Planning Policy is a significant material consideration in the planning system.
Currently, our National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate adaptation to climate change. Responding to the global climate emergency is at the heart of the preparation of National Planning Framework 4, that we will lay in Parliament and consult on widely this autumn.