« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
INTRODUCTION
1. The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 ("the Act") provides a wholly new statutory basis for development planning in Scotland and introduces strategic development plans ( SDPs) and local development plans ( LDPs) to replace existing structure plans and local plans. The Act also gives Scottish Ministers powers to prepare regulations concerning a range of detailed aspects of the new development planning system. These regulations will in due course replace the Town and Country Planning (Structure and Local Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 1983.
2. Three sets of draft statutory instruments are appended as annexes to this paper:
- Annex A contains draft regulations on matters which the Act specifies will be approved through affirmative procedures in Parliament, these being the content of SDPs, and the grounds for declining to make modifications recommended in a report of an examination into a LDP.
- Annex B contains draft regulations on matters which will be approved through negative procedures in Parliament, these being the remainder of the regulations governing the new development planning system.
- Annex C contains a draft order, also to be approved through negative procedures, concerning transitional arrangements for development plans that are in preparation when the new provisions are commenced.
3. The new Act contains more detail on the procedures to be followed in preparing development plans than the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. The draft regulations do not repeat this detail, but pick up on the specific powers to prepare regulations contained in the new Act. In order to provide clarity on how these two sets of requirements fit together, this paper brings together the established requirements of the Act with the proposed requirements of the draft regulations. But it offers discussion and poses questions only on those parts not fixed by the Act.
4. The draft regulations have been designed to provide a minimum set of requirements to ensure that Scottish Ministers' priorities for the operation of the development planning system are achieved. The aim has been to provide a light regulatory touch. Given the very different circumstances in which plans will be prepared over time and across Scotland, it would not be possible in any event to set out detailed procedures that would be appropriate in all cases. More advice as to the form, content and procedures for development plans will be provided in due course, and where relevant some of this advice is included in this consultation paper to help illustrate how the new procedures are intended to operate.
5. The processes for the initial stages of the preparation of SDPs and LDPs have been designed to mirror each other as closely as possible, though there are some inevitable differences. In particular, the different ways in which SDPs and LDPs are constituted means that the two processes diverge more significantly from the examination stage on.
6. For information, we expect to consult later this year on draft regulations governing the examination procedures for development plans.
The importance of development plans
7. Development plans are a central part of the planning system and the proposals to modernise the way they are produced and refocus their content are critical to planning's success in the future. The challenge for the new legislation and advice is to help achieve a balance between ensuring plans are produced quickly and are up to date, while still allowing early and effective engagement to take place with all those affected by the plan's proposals and those involved in its delivery. The detailed proposals set out in the draft regulations seek to achieve this balance.
« Previous | Contents | Next »