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Strath conservationists' hope for equal planning rights





Building a fairer system?
Building a fairer system?

Calls for a more level playing field on planning appeals have been noted by Holyrood - and welcomed by the strath’s busiest conservation group.

The Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee decided on Tuesday that calls to make appeal rights within the planning system more equal for local communities and other groups “deserve to be looked into in more detail”.

The issue is likely be passed on to the Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee, which has lead responsibility for planning issues.

Scottish Environment LINK’s Planning Task Force “warmly welcomed” the decision.

The petition had been lodged by Planning Democracy, a member of Scottish Environment LINK which focuses on campaigning for a fair and inclusive planning system in Scotland.

At present, if a developer has their application for planning permission refused by a local planning authority they have a second chance to gain approval because they can appeal against this decision to a review body of local councillors or to Scottish Ministers.

But if a development is granted planning permission there is no equal right for any other parties who may be affected to challenge the decision.

Although a developer can appeal against a refusal of planning permission for a new coal mine, windfarm or fracking development, local communities cannot appeal against the granting of planning permission in their local area.

The community’s only option would be to go to court, which is expensive and would only consider whether legal procedure has been followed correctly.

Aedán Smith, Convener of the LINK Planning Task Force said: “This is very welcome news and campaigners at Planning Democracy deserve huge credit for their work making progress on this important issue.

“The Scottish planning system evolved in a time when it was considered a priority for landowners and developers to be able to rapidly progress their development projects, albeit with some safeguards.

“The modern world is somewhat different and we now need a planning system that is more balanced, which has wider long term public interest at its heart and which helps deliver development that is genuinely sustainable.

“Nowhere is the inequity of the current planning system more obvious than in the complete imbalance in appeal rights, where rights of appeal are provided for applicants for planning permission but denied to all others.

“The planning system helps guide development, shaping the Scotland of tomorrow.

"If we want Scotland to be a more equitable and sustainable place, we need a planning system that gives a more equal weighting to the needs of the wider public alongside the needs of landowners and developers.

“It is almost 10 years since the last review of the planning system.

"Given this major inequality that still exists, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament should consider whether this aspect of the current Scottish planning system remains fit for purpose.”

A local conservation group has said the planngn system is outdated and "skewed in favour of developers and powerful landowners”.

Dr Gus Jones, spokesperson for the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, said: “Equal right of appeal in the planning system is long overdue and offers an important opportunity for creating a greener and fairer Scotland.

“At woodland and grassland at Carrbridge a controversial application that would increase the village by a third was given outline permission on appeal in February 2005.

"In the 10 years since then the developer has been incapable of progressing this patently unpopular and unsustainable development, that blights community interests and is damaging the reputation of the Cairngorms National Park - an equal right of appeal could have prevented this damaging fiasco."


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