Question reference: S4W-27551
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 17 September 2015
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Current status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 September 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals on planning applications of (a) national and (b) local importance reporters have determined since 2011.
Answer
The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 introduced a hierarchy for planning developments into primary legislation. The hierarchy was designed to help deliver Scottish ministers’ aim that the planning system should respond in a more proportionate way to proposed developments. It ensures that applications are dealt with in an appropriate way to their scale and complexity, allowing decisions to be made at the appropriate level. The three categories in the hierarchy of development to which all developments are allocated are national development, major development and local development. National developments are classed as developments that are designated in the National Planning Framework. Further information on what constitutes major and local development can be found in Scottish Planning Series Circular 5 2009.
Not all developments are dealt with under the planning consent regime and Scottish ministers have made decisions, following submission of a report and recommendations by a reporter from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA), on national proposals including compulsory purchase orders in connection with the Forth Bridge Crossing, high voltage direct current subsea cabling from Scotland to the south and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games; the Rosyth Harbour Revision Order dealing with freight capacity on the Forth; proposals to increase the baseload capacity at Cockenzie Power Station; electricity grid reinforcements relating to the Beauly to Denny power line, and applications for wind farms over 50 mega-watts under the Electricity Act.
In the vast majority of planning appeals a reporter from the DPEA of the Scottish Government is appointed to determine the appeal. DPEA has been recording what developments within this hierarchy have been dealt with on appeal to Scottish ministers since December 2013, following the roll-out of a new case handling system that allowed this information to be recorded.
In addition to the above, since December 2013 reporters from DPEA have made decisions on 68 major and 305 local planning proposals.