Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current capacity within local authorities to assess specialist planning applications such as minerals developments.
We are aware of concerns about the current capacity within planning authorities. The skills and capacity challenges faced by planning authorities are not unique to Scotland and are not restricted to minerals development. The Scottish Government is taking forward a programme of actions to boost planning capacity across Scotland.
Our Investing in Planning consultation last year identified a range of interventions to increase the capacity within planning authorities. In September 2024 we published a blog outlining the proposals we were intending to take forward, those which required further consideration and those which we did not intend to take forward at this time.
The Scottish Government has established the Hydrogen Planning Hub and the Housing Emergency Hub in response to concerns about capacity and skills. We are currently considering the further role that Hubs can play in supporting planning authorities to address the skills and capacity issues they are facing.
The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC) is working with individual planning authorities to pilot a new National Planning Improvement Framework. Planning authorities will carry out a self-assessment and work with the NPIC and others to identify areas for improvement and develop an action plan. We expect the first reports will be published shortly.
We also continue to engage with Heads of Planning Scotland to understand the pressures facing planning authorities in Scotland and how they can best be addressed.