A statement of the Scottish Government's policy on nationally important land use planning matters

Scottish Planning Policy has now been published - Feb 2007. Here are some extracts:

The Scottish Government’s planning policies are set out in the National Planning Framework, this SPP, Designing Places, Designing Streets1 and Circulars2. This SPP is a statement of Scottish
Government policy on land use planning and contains:

• the Scottish Government’s view of the purpose of planning,
• the core principles for the operation of the system and the objectives for key parts of the
system,
• statutory guidance on sustainable development and planning under Section 3E of the
Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006,
• concise subject planning policies, including the implications for development planning and
development management, and
• the Scottish Government’s expectations of the intended outcomes of the planning system.

Planning guides the future development and use of land. Planning is about where development
should happen, where it should not and how it interacts with it’s surroundings. This involves
promoting and facilitating development while protecting and enhancing the natural and built
environment in which we live, work and spend our leisure time. Careful attention to layout,
design and construction should result in places where people want to be.

The Scottish Government believes that a properly functioning planning system is essential to
achieving its central purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth. The way in which the
planning system is structured and operated should be directed towards that purpose and to
supporting the Scottish Government’s five strategic objectives and fifteen national outcomes3.

The planning system should be judged by the extent to which it maintains and creates places
where people want to live, work and spend time. This is a major challenge which will require
permission for inappropriate development to be refused, conditions imposed to regulate
development and agreements reached on actions to mitigate impacts on amenity, natural
heritage, historic environment and communities. Efficient and inclusive planning are important
elements of the modernised planning system, but it is through the maintenance and creation of
high quality sustainable places that the most significant contribution to increasing sustainable
economic growth can be made.

The document can be found here

Other newly published documents that you may find useful include:

Planning Circular 1/2010: Planning agreements. Circular providing guidance on the processes for determining the need for, and negotiation of, planning agreements click here

and,

National Planning Framework 2 - Action Programme click here which includes details of the A96 Corridor