Who is consulted on each application?
A full consultee list is available. At the application stage and beyond, members of the public and other interested parties may also submit comments for consideration.
What are the consultation periods for each stage of the application?
At the scoping stage, all consultees are given three weeks to respond. At the application stage and beyond, consultees are given 28 days from the date that the consultation is issued except relevant planning authority/ies who have 4 months (2 months for Section 37) to formally respond. Members of the public have 28 days from the date that the last press advert is published.
What happens when the consultation period is over?
If the relevant planning authority objects, and doesn't withdraw the objection or if the objection cannot be met by condition, Scottish Ministers must call a public inquiry. Otherwise the Scottish Ministers have discretionary power to call a public inquiry. If there is to be no PLI held, the Scottish Ministers will proceed to determine the application. Finally, the decision letter and consent will be announced in parliament and made available on the Scottish Executive website.
How do consent conditions work?
Consent conditions have the power to limit, control or direct the manner in which a development is carried out. The main benefit,, when applied correctly, is to allow permission to be granted to a proposal that would, without certain conditions imposed, be unsuitable development. With such onus placed upon one specific planning instrument, it is important to ensure that this instrument is implemented appropriately. Government Guidance, in the form of Circular 11/95: The Use of Conditions in Planning Permission (ODPM, 1995) and Circular 4/1998: Model Planning Conditions (Scottish Executive, 1998) aims to ensure this occurs. This Guidance requires that any condition imposed upon the granting of planning permission should comply with six criteria; that the condition be:
• Necessary
• Relevant to planning
• Relevant to the development to be permitted
• Enforceable
• Precise, and
• Reasonable in all other respects.