Development Management

The Development Management work package includes implementation of Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 provisions relating to:

• Pre-application consultation
• Duration of planning permission
• Declining to determine similar applications
• Schemes of delegation, appeals and local reviews

Several of the development management provisions have already been brought into force, including requirements relating to noise-sensitive developments, provision of changing places toilet facilities and a statement as to conformity with the development plan.  See the Legislation page for more details.

Development Management Working Group

December 2019 meeting discussion Summary - PDF (211kB)

Pre-application Consultation

The changes to pre-application consultation requirements with communities about national and major development, which were due to come into force on 1 April 2022, and the related changes in section 18 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, are to be postponed until 1 October 2022.

To this effect, Regulations in SSI 2022/66 and SSI 2022/67 came into effect on 30 March 2022. Work will, however, continue on guidance to accompany the postponed changes.

The changes to new pre-application consultation (PAC) requirements from the old PAC requirements and the latter with Coronavirus modifications involves various transitional arrangements. Which PAC requirements apply in a case will depend on when a proposal of application notice (PoAN) is given to the planning authority and when the eventual planning application is made.

This is summarised in the following table, based on the relevant dates in the current legislation:

PAC guidance for PoAN application date

	PoAN given before 01/10/22	PoAN given on or after 01/10/22
Application made on or before 31/03/231	Coronavirus PAC Modifications Apply	New PAC requirements apply
Application made after 31/03/23 and by 31/03/242	Old PAC requirements apply3	New PAC requirements apply
Application made after 31/03/242	New PAC requirements apply (i.e. start PAC again as no application made by 31/03/242)	Start PAC again if more than 18 months from date PoAN given

1. End date of 6 month transitional period for Coronavirus modifications which expire 30/09/22
2. End date of transitional 18 month time limit for making an application where PoAN given prior to 01/10/22
3. The PAC requirements which applied prior to the Coronavirus modification, namely re-instatement of the requirement for a physical public event. We have permanently changed the requirement for newspaper notices to indicate how information is to be made available to the public (including by electronic means), so that requirement does not revert to the old requirement – this avoids any need to repeat a newspaper notice just because the requirement on content reverted.

Short-Term Let Control Areas

Section 17 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 includes provisions for planning authorities to be able to designate Short-Term Let Control Areas within their boundaries. In those areas, the use of a dwellinghouse for short term letting is deemed to involve a material change of use and therefore always needs planning permission. The arrangements for designating control areas are further set in the Short-Term let Control Area Regulations. The provisions will be in force from 1 April 2021 and we are preparing associated guidance.