Scotland 2045 - fourth National Planning Framework - draft - national developments: assessment report

2. Purpose of National Developments

2.1 Designation as a national development establishes the need for it, but does not remove requirements for relevant consents to be obtained before development can begin. Establishing the need facilitates onward decision making, where the matter of the need should not be considered again.

2.2 The national developments are those that strongly support the delivery of the spatial strategy, i.e. are 'needed'. Their identification is helpful to those delivering and hosting them including: public, commercial, and third sector bodies; and communities.

2.3 Status as a national development does not imply Scottish Government funding is available or will become available for the development. It is anticipated that many national developments will be delivered through a partnership approach. The national developments proposed in the draft NPF4 are aligned to wider Scottish Government policy as far as is reasonable to do so at this time, to strengthen the connection between the NPF4 spatial strategy and delivery.