Following the recent publication of the report of the independent panel tasked with reviewing Scotland’s planning system, the country’s builders have found much to encourage them in their efforts to address the chronic undersupply of housing.

With the panel (which comprised Crawford Beveridge, Petra Biberbach and John Hamilton) having heard oral evidence from some 100 parties and considered over 400 written evidence submissions and almost 500 online forum comments, the fact that a clear summary of what has been said and a directional set of recommendations published is, in itself, a job well done according to industry body Homes for Scotland (HFS).

The organisation’s Head of Planning Tammy Adams (right) said:

“I have considered the recommendations against those proposed in our written evidence - and many of those asks now have big ticks besides them.   Obvious ones include the clear recognition of the need to address planning at the strategic level – moving away from simply having another layer of development plans towards a much stronger focus on delivery and infrastructure planning. Some Strategic Development Plans seem quite ‘bottom-up’ and this has seemed to restrict the ability of planners operating at this level to make difficult decisions and push local planning authorities in new, more fruitful directions.

“This introduces the need for a decision on where the home building targets for city regions should sit and we are very pleased to see the panel recommending that this should happen at the national level which would result in fewer disagreements over numbers slowing down the preparation and implementation of development plans.”

Although HFS still has to conduct a detailed analysis of the report, Adams also already found many other of the panel’s recommendations worthy of highlighting, including the suggestion that once a site is allocated in a development plan it should have clear and reliable status – equivalent to a granting of planning permission in principal – adding:

“Along with other measures aimed at de-cluttering the planning system, this would allow local authority officials and politicians to focus their squeezed resources on the real priorities and avoid having to debate and establish the principle of development on each single site multiple times.”

There are, however, some points on which she strikes a more cautious note, such as the recommendation that planning fees should be increased ‘substantially’, but not ring-fenced.  On this, she believes that home builders and other customers of the planning system will want strong reassurance on the level of service they will get and pay for before rallying behind further fee rises.

HFS will also be looking closely at any detailed arrangements for implementing the suggested changes to the plan-making process on which she says:

“We strongly support the principle of ensuring plans are fit for purpose at a much earlier stage but, if the back-stop of local plan examinations is to be removed, we will want to know how home builders and other stakeholders can be certain their evidence, suggestions and concerns are going be given proper consideration, and acted upon, from the outset. The changes set out will rely on both genuine collaboration and give and take much earlier in the process. Our initial feeling is that some form of later check may still be required, although we hope it would need to be called into play less often.

“Through discussion with our members, we will be setting out our detailed thoughts in due course in order to support the positive momentum and help ensure the recommendations are taken forward into a package of new legislation, policy and guidance that achieves the intended results, including the delivery of more high-quality homes.”