Planning Minister Derek Mackay has today outlined plans to improve efficiency and streamline the planning system, including linking increases in fees to improved performance by planning authorities.

In a statement to Parliament, he launched a series of consultations and measures to take planning forward following the comprehensive reform of the Scottish Planning System in 2006.

Mr Mackay announced a new performance framework for planners developed by Heads of Planning Scotland and COSLA, and his intention to link planning performance to fees, so authorities who fail to improve performance would not be able to charge greater fee levels. Developers will pay a single, proportionate fee to cover all aspects of the planning application.

The proposals are part of a range of measures to help planning boost economic growth, removing unnecessary obstacles to delivering projects, including reviewing planning agreements and obligations and a consulation on innovative approaches to delivering development.

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Other proposals include extending permitted development rights to some areas of non-householder development.

Proposals to reform the fee system will also address Audit Scotland’s concerns, raised in their report “Modernising the Planning System” that the funding model for the planning system is “becoming unsustainable as the gap between fees and expenditure increases”.

Planning Minister Derek Mackay said: "The 2006 Planning Act contained the most significant changes to the planning system in 60 years. It has bedded down well but more needs to be done to deliver the efficient plan-led system we aspire to. What I am publishing today is a comprehensive package of measures to drive improved performance, simplify and streamline the planning process, deliver development and promote a plan led system.

"I do not want to dispense with essential procedures or appraisals, but ensure that those in place are an aid, not a barrier to better informed discussions, with individuals, developers and communities. Planning has an important role to play in delivering sustainable economic growth. Developers and communities have told me that they are not solely concerned about the speed of planning decisions, but also with the certainty of timescales and the predictability of outcomes.

"The performance framework we have put in place with Heads of Planning Scotland and COSLA reflects this. I understand that an excellent planning system needs to be properly resourced. Last year’s Audit Scotland report made clear that the gap between the amount planning authorities earn and the amount it costs to process applications was unsustainable. Today I am launching a consultation on reforming planning fees so they are proportionate and effective. That will mean increasing fees for those projects which take the greatest resources and reducing them for those that take less."

(GK)