Falkirk Council

If an applicant is aggrieved by the decision on an application, or wishes to contest any or all conditions attached to a planning permission, the right of appeal is available. Changes introduced determine how such an appeal is heard. In the case of "local" applications or applications determined under the Council's approved Scheme of Delegation, appeals are made to the Council's Planning Review Committee. This is in the process of being formed and its members trained.

The following general principles apply to its operation:

1. Local Reviews will replace the current Appeal to Scottish Ministers for "local" category applications determined by planning officers under the statutorily approved Scheme of Delegation;
2. the Planning Review Committee will consist of at least three elected members and will constitute a Committee of the Council;
3. meetings must be in public;
4. the method of determination will be by one of the following procedures -
   by means of written submissions
   by the holding of one or more hearing sessions; and
   by means of an inspection of the land to which the review relates;
5. there is no automatic right for the applicant or other interested parties to speak at the review;
6. the process must be fair and transparent;
7. in the case of an application which has not been determined by the Planning Authority within the statutory two month period, where a Notice of Review has been served by the applicant and that Review has not been carried out by the Planning Review Committee within two months of service of the Notice, the applicant can appeal to the Scottish Ministers;
8. meetings of the Planning Review Committee will be administered by Law and Administration Services, with support from officers of Development Services who have had no previous involvement in the delegated decision process for the case under review.

The Review Process

1. "Notice of Review" must be served by the applicant on the planning authority within three months of decision or the date of expiry of period allowed for determining the application;
2. Applicants must include, among other things, reasons for requiring review; preferred method of review; matters to be raised and documents to be used. Further information will only be accepted where requested by the Planning Review Committee;
3. The Planning Review Committee will make interested parties, statutory consultees and objectors aware of the review request;
4. 14 days is allowed for further representations (the applicant may see these and make further comment);
5. The Planning Review Committee may then determine the review on the basis of the review papers alone or, decide that further information is required through an alternative review procedure, i.e.
   • by means of written submissions;
   • by the holding of one or more hearing sessions; and
   • by means of a site inspection (or any combination);
6. The Planning Review Committee may hold a pre-examination meeting to help it to decide which procedure to follow;
7. Regulations cover matters such as how to deal with the introduction of new evidence;
8. The written Decision Notice issued by the Planning Review Committee must include an outline of the issues considered at the review and the reasons for the decision;
9. If the applicant wishes to question the validity of the decision, application may be made to the Court of Session within six weeks of the date of the issuing of the decision;
10. Other than for non-determination reviews there is no statutory timescale within which the Planning Review Committee must make a decision.

The Regulations relating to local review are relatively complex and further information will be available on our Website in due course.

Appeals to Scottish Ministers

On applications which are determined outwith the scheme of delegation, or which are determined either by Full Council or the Planning Committee, the appeal will be made to the Scottish Ministers. Consequently, appeals relating to all "national" and "major" applications will be heard in the same way.

The changes to the planning appeal system introduced by the 2006 Act include the removal of the automatic right to appear before and be heard by a person appointed by Scottish Ministers; a restriction on the introduction of new material in the appeal process; and confirmation that it will not be possible to vary a proposal once an appeal has been made.

Notices of Initiation and Completion of Development

Another new requirement of the 2006 Act, these are required for all proposals receiving planning permission under the Development Management Regulations. This is in order that Councils are aware that development is underway and in due course completed as a guide to effective enforcement of conditions. The Council will refer to these requirements in conditions in order that the statutory requirements can themselves be enforced.

Templates for use by applicants will be issued with all planning approvals, and these will be made available online.

Site Notices During Development

This is a further new requirement of the 2006 Act, introduced to raise awareness of the detail of a permission and in particular draw attention to the conditions which apply in respect of a sensitive development.

For all "national" and "major" developments, and for developments which were advertised as "bad neighbour", a notice has to be posted on or in the vicinity of the site until the development is completed. A template for the notice is set out in Schedule 7 of the Development Management Procedure Regulations. A copy can be downloaded from our downloads page|.