Infrastructure levy for Scotland: discussion paper

Infrastructure Levy for Scotland: Discussion Paper

The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 (“the 2019 Act”) provides powers for the Scottish Ministers to make regulations to introduce an Infrastructure Levy, that is, a charge payable to a local authority on development in that local authority’s area, to be spent on the provision of infrastructure. This is intended to provide an additional stream of funding for infrastructure which is needed to support growth on a wider scale than individual developments.

The Programme for Government 2023-24 committed to implementing new infrastructure levy regulations by Spring 2026 – in advance of the next Scottish Parliament election. The infrastructure levy powers in the 2019 Act are subject to a “sunset clause”, meaning that they will lapse if regulations establishing the levy are not made by July 2026.

This paper is intended to be used to support discussions about the Infrastructure Levy for Scotland (ILS) and to draw out views on how it could operate, prior to a full consultation on draft Regulations. After setting out some background issues, the paper describes existing mechanisms for securing developer obligations, summarises previous research and reviews relevant to the ILS, and sets out the relevant provisions in the 2019 Act. It then describes the key issues to be considered for regulations and puts forward proposed approaches and points for discussion.

If you would like to arrange a discussion with the Scottish Government team, or submit any comments on the discussion points, please contact Infrastructure.Levy@gov.scot. Discussions need to be concluded and any comments submitted by 30 September 2024.