Planning: Local development planning guidance issued

My last article (Journal, April 2023, 30) focused on the National Planning Framework 4 (“NPF4”) as part of the development plan. This article considers the Scottish Government’s published Local development planning guidance on the procedures and processes to be followed for the new style of local development plan (“LDP”) which must now be prepared and adopted by all Scottish planning authorities. The intention is that once adopted, the new style LDP will last 10 years.

This guidance is a significant step in initiating the new style LDPs required under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. Once adopted, they will, together with NPF4, form (for each planning authority area) the “statutory development plan” against which all new development will be assessed, and thus form the cornerstones of the plan-led planning system. The development plan is pivotal in deciding what gets built and where, and just as importantly what should not be built. This is achieved through the legal presumption in favour of development enshrined in s 25 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 where a development proposal is in accordance with the development plan, and a (rebuttable) presumption against where it is not.

Preparation

The guidance indicates every planning authority should have a new style LDP in place within around five years of the regulations coming into force, i.e. by May 2028, and that LDP preparation to adoption should take around three to four years, considerably shorter than the cycle for the old style LDP. The timings for the new process mean that this will need to start in 2024. The shorter period for preparation and adoption is intended to enable a planning authority to focus on delivery of the LDP together with subsequent monitoring and evidence gathering to inform the next LDP, in an efficient rolling programme.

In order to ensure the overall plan making process is joined up, the preparation of the new style LDP must take into account NPF4 and any relevant local improvement plan, any local place plan, and have regard to regional spatial strategy and other plans. NPF4 already contains a suite of 33 national planning policies, and it is not intended that these need to be repeated in the LDP.

The new style LDP will address all forms of development including housing, retail, leisure and energy. They should be delivery focused and deliver for people and places. The 1997 Act defines the purpose of planning, which is managing the use of land in the long term public interest, which includes contributing to sustainable development and achievement of the National Performance Framework. The new LDP should include the expectations for new development and the continued need for developer contributions.

Similar to the existing LDPs, the new LDPs will allocate sites for development, but going forward, sites will be carefully assessed for deliverability and should be free from constraints, or if constrained the LDP should indicate how such constraints will be removed, and the timeframe.

Engagement

The guidance explains in considerable detail the key stages of plan-making, including the evidence gathering which will include the need for an “evidence report”, assessed at an early stage through a “gate check”, where ministers will appoint a reporter to assess the adequacy of the report.

Using the evidence report, the planning authority must then develop a spatial strategy with early public engagement such as a call for sites. The proposed LDP will then be prepared under the delivery programme, consulting with key agencies and persons named in the programme. Once approved by the planning authority, they must publish the proposed LDP and evidence report and undertake public consultation with the ability to modify the proposed LDP.

The proposed LDP and modification report (if applicable) will then be submitted to ministers; unresolved representations will be subject to examination by a reporter. The examination procedure will be a matter for the reporter, but could take the form of a hearing or further written submissions. The report of that examination may include a recommendation that the planning authority make modifications. If, having completed the examination, the reporter is not satisfied that the planning authority has allocated sufficient land to meet the local housing land requirement, they can issue a notice to the planning authority that it must prepare a new LDP.

The LDP (which may be modified) can be adopted by the planning authority, and must be published together with the delivery programme. It must then be kept under review and monitored in terms of changes in characteristics and the impact of policies and proposals. The delivery programme must be renewed and the housing land audit prepared annually.