Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA): annual review 2023 to 2024

What We Do

Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), a division of the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, considers and makes decisions and recommendations on a range of planning and environmental matters on behalf of Scottish Ministers. This year there was a decrease in cases received to 613, from 625 in the previous year. There was a significant reduction in the number of Wayleave applications received and the number of Section 36 applications (three) is the lowest number received in the last five years.

A person appointed by Scottish Ministers (a reporter) decides most planning permission appeals. These are called ‘delegated’ appeals. In a small number of cases the reporter does not decide the appeal but submits a report with a recommendation to the Scottish Ministers. These are called ‘non-delegated’ or ‘recalled’ appeals. We also deal with a wide range of appeals from decisions of planning or local authorities on matters such as listed buildings and consents to display advertisements, amongst others. DPEA also deals with appeals from decisions made by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in connection with the prevention and control of pollution, air and water quality, and waste management.

Other key areas of our work include the examination of local development plans, public local inquiries held in connection with applications for consent under the Electricity Act 1989 and compulsory purchase and other orders.

Through our practical knowledge and experience of the appeals system, we continue to provide input to the Planning, Architecture and Regeneration Division (PARD) in taking forward planning reform, designed to further improve the planning system. We have also continued to have discussions with other Scottish Government divisions in relation to our role in new areas of work for DPEA.

Outreach Work

We also engage with outside bodies and other Scottish Government divisions to promote greater understanding of their and our needs. These activities can at times lead to improvements in service on both sides of the equation. This year our engagement activities with outside bodies have included:

• Ongoing meetings with councils about the new Gate Check process for their Local Development Plans.
• A programme of training and awareness events for participants in the planning appeals process, such as planning authorities, planning consultants, community councils, key agencies, and members of the public. These are ongoing training sessions delivered by the DPEA and other bodies designed to provide more information and guidance.
• Speaking at Planning Democracy and Action to Protect Rural Scotland’s online webinar “Understanding Scotland’s new planning system”.
• Liaison with Historic Environment Scotland to provide Reporter training.
• Provided support to the Welsh Government’s ‘Planning and Environment Decisions Wales’ team relating to mentoring support for reporters.

Our engagement with other Scottish Government divisions has included:

• Contributing to the ongoing work of the Onshore Wind Sector Deal; specifically in relation to the scope of Environmental Impact Assessment reports for Wind Farms.
• Liaison with Scottish Forestry.

Our Aims And Values

DPEA aims to embody the core values of the planning service in Scotland and to deliver on policy intentions as set out in NPF4:

• Focusing on outcomes, maximising benefits and balancing competing interests
• Playing a key role in facilitating sustainable economic growth, particularly the creation of new jobs and the strengthening of economic capacity and resilience within communities
• Ensuring development plans are up to date and relevant
• Making decisions in a timely, transparent and fair way to provide a supportive business environment and engender public confidence in the system
• Being inclusive, engaging all interests as early and effectively as possible
• Being proportionate, only imposing conditions and obligations where necessary
• Upholding the law and enforcing the terms of decisions made

Our Objectives

• To reach sound decisions and recommendations
• To carry out our business more efficiently
• To ensure we use our resources to best effect and in a proportionate way
• To continue to improve the experience of our customers