Adopted on February 13th this year, Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) is a long-term plan looking to 2045 that guides spatial development, sets out national planning policies, designates national developments and highlights regional spatial priorities.

Criticisms of the framework were included in responses to an SCN survey which found that 96.3% of the country’s architects, housebuilders, developers and planning consultants believe that their businesses had suffered because of local authority planning delays, with the same percentage stating that the delays have increased since the Covid pandemic. Almost all of the respondents (99.3%) do not believe that the situation will improve.

One of our readers summed up the views and experiences of many.

He writes: “Successive Scottish Governments have singularly failed to understand and grasp the issues facing planning, and in particular, local authority planning functions across Scotland. Planners are leaving the profession in droves and new entrants to the profession have been diminishing for years - there is now only one undergraduate planning course in Scotland!”

He goes on: “The planning system itself is clunky, complex and deliberately confrontational and that’s before we mention the absolute disaster that is NPF4, which is going to make a bad situation worse. We need proper engagement between government and industry, not just lip service consultation that ignores genuine concerns. We will not see the much needed new and affordable homes delivered across Scotland unless radical reform and positive changes are made to the planning system, changes that must seek to encourage positive economic and sustainable development and growth.”

Another experienced contributor states: “There is less engagement now than at any point in the 22 years I have been working in planning. Officers and consultees are uncontactable, uncommunicative and reluctant to enter into any discussion on matters that could be resolved quickly, relying instead on email.

“The increase (significant) in application fees has resulted in no improvement in the service provided. Officers request additional information like a dripping roast without giving any comfort that they might be minded to approve permission (subject to a successful outcome of that additional information). The introduction of NPF4 without any guidance has reduced any certainty the planning system is designed to provide to investors in Scotland, and often in the final decision by unelected members, the balance required in the planning process is severely lacking. The system has gone backwards since we discussed “culture change” in 2006.”

One seasoned observer sums up: “The planning system in Scotland has become increasingly more complex with ever-increasing burdens/demands imposed on both applicants and planning authorities. Resourcing at the local planning authority level is a key issue. NPF4 and associated guidance has had a negative impact on the speed of the planning system and this has caused significant delays to planning applications for housing development in particular.”

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SCN is still keen to hear your experiences of Scotland’s planning system. Please send any correspondence, in confidence, to SCN editor Kieran Findlay via k.findlay@scottishnews.com.