High Level Group on Planning Performance note of meeting: 12 September 2024

Attendees and apologies

Cllr Gail Macgregor (Chair), COSLA Spokesperson for Environment and Economy

Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Public Finance

Pamela Clifford (East Ayrshire Council) Heads of Planning Scotland

Paul Macari, (Aberdeenshire Council) SOLACE

Caroline Brown, Royal Town Planning Institute

Craig McLaren, National Planning Improvement Champion

David McAllister, Planning Aid Scotland

Stuart Salter, (Scottish Planning Consultants Forum), Applicant Stakeholder Group

Calum Lindsay, COSLA

Andy Kinnaird, Scottish Government

Barry Stalker, Scottish Government

Suzanne Stephen, Scottish Government

Chris Sinclair, Scottish Government

 

Apologies

Fiona Simpson, Scottish Government

Rob McIntosh, (Aberdeenshire Council) SOLAR

Heather Claridge, (A+DS), Key Agencies Group

Items and actions

Welcome and opening remarks. 

Councillor Macgregor and the Minister welcomed the group to the meeting. The Minister reflected on the recent visits to Chapelcross and Fife Council.

 

Minutes of previous meeting & action points

The group agreed the note of the last meeting. Both actions points formed part of the meeting agenda.

 

Investing in Planning Consultation – next steps

The Minister provided an update on the Investing in Planning consultation and announced a package of changes to planning fees, including: an inflationary increase to planning fees (based on the Consumer Price Index) since the last fee change in April 2022; widening the scope of discretionary charges to include charging for processing agreements and Masterplan Consent Areas; increasing the fee for prior notification/approval, and amending the fee for shellfish farming. These changes are expected to be implemented in late 2024. A further phase of changes to fees are expected in Summer 2025, including another annual inflationary increase, fees for appealing planning decisions and a new fee category for hydrogen.

The Minister also informed the group that due to the tight timescales for implementing the first phase of changes to fees, the ePlanning fee calculator, designed to help users in calculating the cost of their planning application, will no longer be supported in its current form. Work is underway to consider an appropriate alternative tool to support applicants.

The proposed changes were mostly welcomed by the group, however there were some concerns regarding the introduction of fees for appeals to Scottish Ministers and Local Review Bodies and that elected member training should be implemented alongside this. The second phase of changes to fees is still to be fully formulated and the group will be kept up to date as this work progresses. Ways to leverage funding through the Electricity Act 1989 were also discussed by the group.

The group also discussed the value of the ePlanning fee calculator and that it can save authorities time having to respond to queries about what fees are required to be paid.

• SG officials to provide a summary paper of the next steps from the Investing in Planning Consultation.

• Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) to provide data on the value of the ePlanning calculator and likely impact of the number of enquiries likely if a calculator was not in place.

 

Planning Hub

The Minister and National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC) updated the group on the establishment of Scotland’s first Planning Hub, hosted by the Improvement Service, which will initially focus on assisting planning authorities with hydrogen proposals, as well as building on resilience, sharing skills and best practice. The creation of the hub was based on, and informed by, responses to the Investing in Planning consultation. The Planning Hub is fully funded by the Scottish Government in 2024/25 and should not take resource away from planning authorities. The NPIC has recently met with the Scottish Hydrogen Forum and will shortly be meeting with Scottish Renewables as well as other stakeholders, to scope what is required of the hub.

• the Planning Hub is to be a standing item on future agendas

 

Applicant Stakeholder Group (ASG) – priority issue

An update was provided on behalf of the ASG. The group have requested an update on timescales for Scottish Government guidance on Housing Land Audit (HLA), and on elected members training.

Work on the HLA guidance is ongoing and the guidance is expected to be published this Autumn. The Scottish Government have also been engaging with Planning Aid Scotland to discuss options for the rollout of mandatory training for elected members.

• update on elected member training to be provided at the next High Level Group (HLG)

 

National Planning Improvement Framework and Customer Survey (Paper 3)

The NPIC provided an update on the implementation of the National Planning Improvement Framework. The first cohort has been completed and the peer review has proven to be an empowering session for planners. The second cohort was launched in November and is currently still running, with the third expected to commence in December. By April 2025, all planning authorities in Scotland will have gone through the process. Feedback from the assessment process is that whilst they have been intense, they have been a useful exercise.

An annual report is being drafted which will look at progress, emerging issues and identify actions for next steps.

The customer service survey is due to be published in October. Results will be shared with individual authorities and support will focus on assisting authorities to identify areas for improvement.

• NPIC to circulate the annual report to HLG members in advance of publication

 

Any other business and date of next meeting 

The next meeting of the group will be in person on 11 December 2024 at the Scottish Parliament.