Permitted development rights for fin fish and shellfish developments: consultation

4. Current Regulatory Framework

4.1 Fish Farm developments (fin fish and shellfish) are regulated by the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

4.2 Since 1 April 2007 fish farm developments have been subject to local authority planning in the same way as terrestrial developments. Freshwater fish farm developments have always been under local authority control. All development requires planning permission. However, certain forms of development benefit from 'permitted development rights'. The types of development that can be considered as 'permitted development', and the qualifying criteria are set out in the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992, usually referenced to as the ' GPDO'.

4.3 Permitted development rights ( PDR) for fish farms were introduced by The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Fish Farming) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2012 and the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Fish Farming) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2012 - the '2012 Orders'.

4.4 The 2012 Orders split PDR for fish farms into different classes and include:

• the placing or assembly of certain equipment within the area of an existing fish farm, including the installation of replacement or additional fish pens (Class 21A);
• the replacement or relocation of existing feed barges (Class 21B);
• the replacement of existing top nets or their supports (Class 21C);
• the installation of temporary equipment (Class 21D);
• the placing or assembly of long lines (Class 21E); and
• change of fish species use (Class 21F).