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Scotland debates national development
John Swinney MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth) has made a statement to the Parliament on the criteria the Government will use in designating national developments in the national planning framework.
In his statement, he noted that the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 has made provision for the National Planning Framework to designate certain projects as national developments. Major strategic transport, energy and environmental infrastructure projects (including waste management) could fall into that category of development. The essential test will be whether the development is of strategic importance to Scotland's long-term sustainable economic growth.
Designation in the framework is the mechanism for establishing the need for such developments, so that any inquiry focuses on issues such as design and the mitigation of environmental impacts, not on matters of principle. Projects that may be identified as national developments are those that are considered relevant to the following six factors:
- They must make a significant contribution to Scotland's sustainable economic development;
- They must strengthen Scotland's links with the rest of the world;
- They must deliver strategic improvements in internal connectivity;
- They must make a significant contribution to the achievement of climate change, renewable energy or waste management targets;
- They must be essential elements of a programme of investment in national infrastructure;
- They must raise strategic issues of more than regional importance—for example, projects with impacts on more than one city region.
Planning authorities will be required to ensure that their development plans fully reflect the national infrastructure needs that are identified in the national planning framework.
The projects proposed as national developments will be identified in the consultation draft of the national planning framework, which will be issue before the end of the year.
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