ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Mission to Edinburgh - Historic Scotland

Community councils receive a list of planning applications every week. They
may ask to be formally consulted on some of them. Community councils
usually try to focus on proposals that raise issues of genuine community
interest.
7.4 The Role of the Scottish Government
Under the devolution settlement of 1998, planning and development are
deemed to be devolved matters and are therefore undertaken by the Scottish
Government, without recourse to the United Kingdom Government in
Westminster.
The main functions of the government in relation to planning are:
• maintaining and developing the law on planning;
• giving policy guidance and advice; and
• approving structure plans
• making decisions on some major planning applications and all appeals
The law covering most aspects of planning in Scotland is the Town and Country
Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.
A series of Scottish Planning Policies/National Planning Policy Guidelines
(SPPs/NPPGs) sets out policy on nationally important land use and other
planning matters. They cover issues such as transport, natural heritage, and
land for housing, shopping and town centres. A series of Planning Advice
Notes (PANs) gives advice on how best to deal with matters such as local
planning, rural housing design, and improving small towns and town centres.
7.5 The Role of the Scottish Ministers
The Scottish Ministers have the power to make decisions on planning
applications, but they only do this in certain circumstances, for example, if a
council:
• does not want to follow an approved structure plan (for example, by
developing in the ‘Green Belt’); or
• has a financial or other interest.
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