ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Mission to Edinburgh - Historic Scotland

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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. 30
Appeals against refusal of planning permission, conditions attached to a planning permission, or an enforcement notice are lodged with the Scottish Ministers. The Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) considers these. It makes most of the decisions on behalf of Scottish Ministers, although Scottish Ministers will themselves take decisions where issues of significant national importance are involved. Planning decisions must be based on an open and fair consideration of all the relevant issues, with the same information being made available to all interested parties. For their part, Scottish Ministers – and particularly Mr Stewart Stevenson, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (in whose remit Planning resides) – cannot act in any way which might be seen as prejudicial to the process. In effect, this restricts Ministers’ scope to become involved or pass comment on a proposed development before a decision has been taken, whether by a reporter or by the Minister. While a planning decision is made under the collective name of the Scottish Ministers, in practice it is a matter for the Planning Minister alone to decide; other Ministers must not attempt to influence the Planning Minister. However, the Planning Minister would be debarred from any involvement in a planning case within his/her own parliamentary constituency, to ensure impartiality is maintained in decision‐making. These constraints are necessary to ensure that decisions cannot be successfully challenged in the Courts, and are consistent with the Scottish Ministerial Code. 7.6 Planning Modernisation Scotland's planning system is currently undergoing the most significant modernisation in over 60 years. The 2005 White Paper, Modernising the Planning System was developed following an extensive programme of consultations and stakeholder engagements on all aspects of the planning system. The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 is in the process of being implemented and represents a landmark piece of legislation. The Scottish Government aims to deliver a modern planning system that is: • Efficient: up‐to‐date development plans to be at the heart of an efficient system that provides certainty for users and local people 31
Page 1 and 2: Joint UNESCO‐ ICOMOS Reactive Mon
Page 3 and 4: 1. Terms of Reference 1. As request
Page 16 and 17: 3. Inscription and Statement of Sig
Page 18 and 19: The dramatic topography of the Old
Page 20 and 21: mediaeval ‘herringbone’ layout
Page 22 and 23: challenging the current limits of d
Page 25 and 26: 6. Role of the State Party: Cultura
Page 27 and 28: 7. The Scottish Planning System ‐
Page 29: The planning authority can: • gra
Page 33 and 34: 8. The Scottish Planning System ‐
Page 35 and 36: In addition to this, Historic Scotl
Page 37 and 38: Promote & Educate • Celebrate the
Page 39 and 40: Underpinning its success, setting i
Page 41 and 42: Manifesto The environment of centra
Page 43 and 44: It is a UNESCO requirement that fiv
Page 45 and 46: 11. Case‐specific Briefings 11.1
Page 47 and 48: plans for the wider Haymarket area.
Page 49: principles for the redevelopment of

ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Mission to Edinburgh - Historic Scotland

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