The Society’s planning law committee ran a consultation last year which sought views and feedback from Scottish solicitors and stakeholders to inform its report on the Scottish Government’s planning law policy.

Alistair McKie, committee convener, said: “The aim of the consultation was to shed light on current areas of uncertainty, establish the consensus on best practice and inform the Scottish government’s work to drive consistency and reduce delays.

“The expert views of our members and stakeholders has made this possible and we are pleased to be submitting a comprehensive set of recommendations, addressing aspects of ‘the Act’ ranging from model agreements and in-house styles, heads of terms and processing agreements, parties to the agreement, site area, planning consents, liability and enforceability.

“We look forward to working with the Scottish government to influence positive changes in this area of practice.”

Neil Langhorn from the Scottish Government’s planning and architecture division said: “We’re very grateful to the Law Society of Scotland for this timely piece of work. We will consider the report’s recommendations as part of our wider review of planning obligations.”

The report has been shared with the Scottish Government and will feed into its work to review and transform planning in Scotland.