Conservation charity John Muir Trust (JMT) has welcomed recommendations by Scottish MPs to strengthen the Planning (Scotland) Bill.

Last week, the Local Government and Communities Committee released its report detailing a number of recommendations for the bill, as well as recognising that it has the potential to improve the planning process overall.

The Bill aims to streamline the system of development planning, support delivery of planned developments and includes a new right for communities to produce their own plans for their local areas called Local Place Plans.

Key recommendations by the Committee in its report include;

• We call for the Bill to include a purpose for planning to provide greater certainty to communities and developers, and encourage more meaningful engagement on planning applications, Local Place Plans and Local Development Plans

• While we welcome that planning authorities must "take account of" Local Place Plans, we are concerned that, without further support, disadvantaged communities will be considerably less likely to take advantage of Local Place Plans due to a lack of capacity, time and resources. This will widen inequality

-- Advertisement --

• We are concerned that the Bill proposals don't go far enough to address planning frustrations felt by many communities. We believe that in a plan-led system, appeals should only be allowed in certain circumstances and we urge the Scottish Government to look at these issues

• We recognise music venues make an important contribution to Scotland and it is unreasonable for those moving into a new development to complain about pre-existing noise levels. We recommend that Agent of Change – a principle that puts the onus on developers to mitigate pre-existing noise impacts – should be included within the Bill

Helen McDade, the JMT's Head of Policy said: "We're delighted to note that the Committee has recommended to the Minister that the Bill incorporates a Purpose of Planning, recognising the role this can play in creating high quality places and to protect and enhance the environment and noting the evidence submitted by the Trust in this respect.

"We also warmly welcome the Committee's recognition of long-standing calls by communities and campaigners for a fairer planning system that allows for Equal Rights of Appeal, and note the recommendation that the Scottish Government looks again at these issues before Stage 2 of the report."

To view the report, visit here.

(LM/MH)