Consultation process

In November 2021, we laid our fourth Draft National Planning Framework (Draft NPF4) in the Scottish Parliament for Parliamentary scrutiny.

The Scottish Parliament considered the Draft NPF4 for a period of up to 120 days. Alongside Parliamentary consideration of the draft, we ran a public consultation to gather views and evidence and would welcomed from all to help inform the final NPF4.

The Draft NPF4 is not the start of the process. It builds on two previous rounds of engagement - the Call for Ideas and the Position Statement.

Following this period, we will consider responses to the Draft before presenting a final draft to the Scottish Parliament.

Taking part in the consultation

The consultation closed on 31 March 2022. We encouraged everyone to get involved in the consultation, to help shape the final NPF4.  The Consultation Resources page provided a series of resources to help inform responses, details of events and community grants.

We set a series of consultation questions to help focus on the key areas of change. Whilst you were welcome to do so, there was no requirement to provide information on every question posed. We welcomed all input no matter how small or focused.

Submitting your responses

We encouraged you, wherever possible, to use the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space consultation portal to respond to us. 

If that was not possible, then responses were emailed to us - scotplan@gov.scot. If sending by email, also submit a completed Respondent Information Form - WORD (90KB) which lets us know how to treat your response.

We provided the consultation questions in Word Format, which you should useful when drafting your response prior to submitting to us.

• consultation questions - WORD (784KB)

Online NPF4 Events

During February and March 2022, Kevin Murray Associates (KMA) and PAS facilitated online Draft NPF4 events. The purpose of the informal, interactive sessions was to raise awareness and share views about the Draft NPF4, in order to inform and support the preparation of responses to the consultation, which closed on 31 March 2022.

Each session focused on a specific action area, or policy theme from Draft NPF4. The slides used at each of the events are listed below:

Post Event Material

Action area discussions: 

10 Feb – Northeast Transition Slides 

15 Feb - Northern Revitalisation Slides 

23 Feb – Southern Sustainability Slides

01 Mar - Central Urban Transformation Slides

08 Mar - North and West Coastal Innovation Slides

Policy themed discussions:

17 Feb - Liveable Places Slides

24 Feb - Productive Places Slides

03 Mar - Distinctive Places Slides

10 Mar - Sustainable Places Slides

Participation Statement

Further details about the consultation and how we engaged can be found in our Participation Statement and Programme for Engagement - PDF (589KB).