Planning Performance: High Level Group minutes - December 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Joe Fitzpatrick MSP, Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning – Chair
• Ian Aikman, (Scottish Borders Council) Heads of Planning Scotland
• Paul Macari (Aberdeenshire Council) SOLACE
• Rob McIntosh (Aberdeenshire Council), SOLAR
• Dr Caroline Brown, Royal Town Planning Institute
• Heather Claridge (A+DS), Key Agencies Group
• Craig McLaren, National Planning Improvement Champion
• Calum Lindsay, COSLA
• Fiona Simpson, Scottish Government
• Any Kinnaird, Scottish Government
• Helen Wood, Scottish Government
• Suzanne Stephen, Scottish Government
• Chris Sinclair, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Cllr Gail Macgregor, COSLA Spokesperson for Environment and Economy – Co-chair
• Applicant Stakeholder Group

Items and actions

Introduction

The Minister welcomed everybody to the meeting and noted the apologies from the Applicant Stakeholder Group and Cllr Macgregor.

Actions from previous meeting

The group noted the updates on the actions from the previous meeting (Paper 1).

Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) update on resources survey

Ian Aikman provided an update on the HOPS resources survey which is being undertaken. Responses are still to be submitted by a small number of authorities but key themes include:

• that most authorities have now implemented discretionary charges and this is helping them to retain posts and fill vacancies
• strong business cases are required to recruit
• not all authorities have seen an increase in income from the fee increase
• additional income has not just been used to fill posts but invest in IT software and hardware in order to make people and processes more efficient
• additional income has allowed some authorities to maintain their training budgets and
• to procure consultancy support to either assist with clearing backlogs of applications or provide specialist input

The Minister welcomed this work and acknowledged that it would be incredibly useful in informing the forthcoming consultation on resources.

• HOPS to finalise paper and share with group members

Resourcing workshop outputs

The group discussed the resourcing workshop which was held on 20 November and discussed the outputs which were presented in paper 3. The group were keen to highlight the positive nature of the workshop and that hosting this type of event in person presented an opportunity to meet with a range of other stakeholders, share different perspectives and to change the tone of the conversation around planning. It was clear that many different people and groups have been discussing the workshop since it was held and are keen to be involved in taking forward the actions. It was agreed that there was a need to build on this enthusiasm and momentum, developing a plan of action and identifying areas where, in particular, the private sector could contribute. It was also acknowledged that many of the proposals are not new and that previous action has been taken, however, this is an opportunity to reinvigorate that work and communicate what we are doing to a wider audience.

• Scottish Government (SG) to update table to reflect comments made by members and to circulate revised paper with the note of the meeting
• members to reflect on outputs and provide any further comments
• officials to meet in new year to discuss approach to taking forward actions

National Planning Improvement Framework

The group discussed paper 5 proposing a new National Planning Improvement Framework to replace the current Planning performance Framework (PPF). The group agreed that the change in focus to outcomes was welcome and that the proposed approach to implementing the new framework in a phased approach was sensible. The group also discussed current reporting arrangements and agreed that authorities would not be required to prepare PPF reports for the 2023/24 reporting period and that resources should be reallocated to the new framework and assisting with taking forward the actions from the workshops.

• PPFs are not required to be prepared for the 2023/24 reporting period
• Craig McLaren to work with HOPS to identify authorities to participate in the first pilot round from April 2024

Date of next meeting:

The next meeting will be in person at the Scottish Parliament at 10am-11:30am on 5 March.

Meetings for the remainder of the year are:

• Wednesday 19 June from 10:00 – 11:30
• Wednesday 4 September from 10:00 – 11:30 – potentially in person
• Wednesday 11 December from 10:00 – 11:30