Question reference: S6W-26734
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 8 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 29 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to revising planning policies and/or regulations to facilitate faster decision making on certain types of applications, such as the delivery of affordable homes.
Answer
Recent reforms to Scotland’s planning system are focused on facilitating delivery of high quality development, where and when it is needed. New legislation being implemented through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) is ensuring decisions can be taken about future developments with greater certainty and efficiency. Policy 16 in NPF4 is a distinct, new approach to planning for homes that emphasises delivery and the plan-led approach. We are now taking forward a range of further measures to continue to progress this programme of planning reform.
Our current consultation on ‘Investing in Planning’ includes a range of proposals to support improvement and capacity in planning services, particularly in planning authorities. Our proposals aim to benefit users of the planning system by improving capacity to help reduce decision timescales and improve service quality.
We are also currently consulting on draft regulations relating to the designation of Masterplan Consent Areas, which will be a new upfront consenting mechanism for development proposals, and can include housing, removing the need for planning and other consent applications once a scheme for the area as a whole has been agreed. Once in place, Masterplan Consent Areas have significant potential to give much earlier, and greater, certainty to prospective developers.