Date:              10 April 2008
Embargo:       None

Scottish Planning Hierarchy

The Scottish Government recently issued a consultation on proposals for a planning hierarchy which would categorise planning applications as national, major and local development.  The focus of the consultation was on the criteria which would constitute major development, with a proposed threshold for applications of 25,000 tonnes per annum. Such applications would be subject to pre-application consultation with local communities and a report of the consultation processes would be submitted with the planning application.

In its response Scottish Environmental Services Association (SESA) stressed that the proposed threshold is too low, and would effectively define the vast majority of waste management planning applications as major development, and would increase the time local authorities have to determine an application for a waste management site from two to four months.  SESA cautioned that this would directly conflict with the Scottish Government’s commitment to promptly deliver a network of waste management facilities to secure Scotland’s compliance with EU Directives on waste. As an alternative, SESA suggested that thresholds for major development should be limited to those developments which fall within the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations.

ENDS