Scotland's Broken Planning System

With some architects in Argyll and Bute no longer accepting small domestic commissions because of interminable planning delays, some of the region's most prominent practices have grouped together to raise concerns with the local planning department and discuss how the system can be unblocked.

Scottish Construction Now is pleased to publish in full a response to our readers' survey and planning series by Ian Aikman, chair of Heads of Planning Scotland. As chair of Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS), I felt compelled to write to you after reading your recent editorial in Scottish Constructi

A council planning officer who has been reading SCN's articles on Scotland’s Broken Planning System has blown the whistle on the technological barriers facing local authority planning departments.

Continuing this week's focus on Scotland’s Broken Planning System, Allan Rae, land director at Kirkwood Homes, sums up what SCN has heard from many survey respondents by highlighting a lack of resources, the implementation of NPF4 and planning staff working from home. Local authority staf

Following the release of SCN's survey results on planning delays and the resulting impact on companies in Scotland's construction sector, an architecture practice has reached out to SCN in confidence to share its experience.

As a publication of record and analysis, Scottish Construction Now is not given to publishing editorials or pontificating but the overwhelming results of our readers’ survey on the state of Scotland’s planning system are so devastating that we are compelled to speak out. Of the 135 busin

SCN readers have reported that the two-month statutory target for dealing with planning applications is totally ignored by Scotland’s increasingly invisible planners directly leading to job losses in construction.

The trade body for Scotland's housebuilders has said the results of an SCN survey that highlights the country's broken planning system are "truly dreadful" but of "no surprise" to its members. Respondents to an SCN survey found that 96.3% of the country's architects, housebuilders, develop

Dwindling resources, a lack of accountability and planning officers working from home have been blamed for continuing delays in Scotland's planning system.

The Scotland director of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has called for a streamlined planning system to help small building firms avoid the "lottery of the planning process". Gordon Nelson was responding to the results of an SCN survey which found that 96.3% of the count

‘Poorly drafted’, ‘overly complex’ and ‘rushed’ – these are just some of the words used by SCN readers to describe the new planning framework that puts an impossible burden on a failing system presided over by shambolic planning departments.

Scotland’s failed planning system is having an impact on housing associations being able to deliver the number of affordable homes required to meet Scottish Government targets and tackle poverty and homelessness, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) has warned. SFHA CEO Sally