Planning circular 2/2024: non-domestic permitted development rights

Annex N: Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras

1. Class 72, Part 25 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 – also known as “the GPDO” extends permitted development rights (PDR) to include the installation, alteration or replacement on buildings or other structures (such as walls, fences or poles) of CCTV cameras for security purposes, subject to specified limits on size, numbers and positioning. The class does not apply within conservation areas or National Scenic Areas. Nor does it give PDR to poles or other structures specially constructed to hold cameras; these still require planning consent. Where CCTV cameras are being installed on a listed building or scheduled monument, they will continue to be subject to listed building consent and scheduled monument consent procedures as appropriate.

2. Up to 4 cameras are permitted on the same side of a building or structure and up to 16 cameras in total on any one building or structure, provided that they are at least 10 metres apart. Each camera must be sited so as to minimise its effect on the external appearance of the building or structure and cameras are to be removed as soon as is reasonably practicable after they are no longer required for security purposes. The field of vision of a camera should, as far as practicable, not extend beyond the boundaries of the land where it is sited or any adjoining land to which the public have access. Intrusion and inconvenience to neighbours should be limited as far as is practicable without compromising the camera’s effectiveness for security purposes.