Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 19 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to amending the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to grant communities equal rights of appeals, in light of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) recently accepting the admissibility of a complaint by the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, Planning Democracy, RSPB and Friends of the Earth Scotland, reportedly stating that there is a lack of equal rights of appeal in the planning system, which is unfair and in breach of the convention.
A number of amendments that sought to introduce a third party right of appeal were considered, and rejected, by the Scottish Parliament during consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. We are aware of the communication brought to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) concerning planning appeal rights in Scotland (ACCC/C/2022/196). A response will be issued to the ACCC in due course.