Question reference: S4W-25538
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 14 May 2015
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Current status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 May 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has received in the last year regarding how the system of neighbour notification for planning applications operates, and how many of these were classified as complaints.
Answer
Correspondence and complaints concerning the operation in practice of planning procedures are a matter for the relevant planning authority in the first instance. The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on how many complaints local authorities receive on this issue.
The Scottish Government’s Planning and Architecture Division has received only a very small number of written representations concerning neighbour notification procedures generally within the past year.
Specifically on neighbour notification for wind turbine applications, public petition PE1469 was submitted to the Scottish Parliament on 19 March 2013. This sought changes to neighbour notification distances associated with wind turbine planning applications. The petition was considered by the Public Petitions Committee which referred the case to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee on 10 December 2013. To address the concerns raised the Scottish Government agreed to produce good practice guidance rather than seek legislative change. The draft guidance document was subject to public consultation between October and December 2014. In total 46 respondents submitted comments and information within the consultation period. As a consequence of the consultation responses, a number of amendments have been made to the final draft of the good practice guidance in order to address as many concerns as practically possible.