Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Planning decision times for major Scottish developments slow

31 Jul 2017, 12:50 pm

The planning decision times for major developments in Scotland slowed to a five-year high of 37 weeks last year, according to statistics released by the Scottish government.

The average time for a planning decision over major developments in Scotland slowed by six weeks in 2016/17 compared to the previous year, exceeding the previous high of 36.6 weeks in 2014/15. Major housing applications were decided in an average of 44.9 weeks, more than four weeks slower than the previous year (40.6 weeks).

The government said the average figures were based on a relatively small number of major development applications with lengthy decision times, and that almost 69% of major applications in 2016/17 were decided in a time quicker than the average of 37 weeks.

Last year the overall rate of approvals for all types of application was 94.2%. However there was a drop in the number of decisions, with a fall of 8% in major development decisions from 268 to 246. There were decreases across all categories of development apart from those for housing and business & industry.

Planning law expert Craig Connal QC of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said more needed to be done to speed up the planning process.

“If Scotland is really 'open for business', slower decisions on major applications can't be good news,” said Connal. "Around 90% of applications are granted, which raises the question, in time of stretched resource, as to why all of these have to go through the elaborate and expensive process of planning."

The statistics also showed that local development decisions speeded up in 2016/17 compared to the previous year to reach a record decision time of 9.2 weeks on average. The number of local development decisions also dropped year-on-year, to 26,986 - a decrease of 6% from 28,764 in 2015/16.

The statistics come as Scotland undergoes the next round of consultation on planning reform. Although no decisions have been made on the shape of the future system, a recent position statement showed it is likely to include flexible regional partnership arrangements in place of strategic development plans; ten-year development plans; local place plans; and an infrastructure levy.

The proposals are currently out for consultation until 11 August.