The planning system in Scotland is in the process of the most radical modernisation in over 60 years with the passing of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006. This landmark piece of legislation introduces substantial change to the way planning is delivered by both central and local government, and work is well underway to deliver those changes here in Falkirk.
The first National Planning Framework was published in 2004, setting out a strategy for Scotland's development to 2025. Scotland's second National Planning Framework is currently under preparation and the new Act puts it on a statutory footing.
This means that once finalised, it will provide a national context for development plans and planning decisions as well as informing the ongoing programmes of the Scottish Government, public agencies and local authorities. Scottish Ministers are committed to reviewing the NPF every four years.
The National Planning Framework 2 which has been laid before Ministers contains 12 national developments, one in Falkirk. National developments are the top tier of the new hierarchy of developments introduced by the Town and Country Planning (Hierarchy of Developments) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, which came into effect on 6 April 2009.
Below national development are major and local developments. Whether a proposal is a major or a local development is dependent upon thresholds and criteria contained within the hierarchy. There are 9 classes of major development, the classes and threshold for each being:
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All development under Schedule 1 of the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999
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Housing proposals of 50 dwellings or more, or housing sites exceeding 2 hectares (ha)
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Business & general industrial, storage and distribution with a gross floorspace of 10,000m2 or a site exceeding 2 ha
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Electricity Generation where capacity is or exceeds 20 MW
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Waste Management Facilities where capacity is or exceeds 25,000 tonnes per annum, or for sludge treatment facilities where treatment capacity is or exceeds 50 tonnes (wet weight) daily
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Transport and Infrastructure where the road, railway, tramway, waterway, aqueduct or pipeline exceeding 8 km in length
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Fish Farming where the surface area of water covered exceeds 2ha
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Mineral Extraction where the site area is or exceeds 2 ha
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Other Development not falling wholly within one of the above classes where the gross floor space is or exceeds 5000m2 or a site area exceeding 2ha
Two National Developments directly affect the Falkirk Council area. The first of these is the Grangemouth Freight Hub which involves improvements in port, road and rail infrastructure to support Grangemouth's role as Scotland's largest container port and main freight distribution centre.
The development will be located in the Port of Grangemouth and surrounding area and will involve:
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the creation of a river berth outside the port lock
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the expansion of freight storage and handling facilities
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improved railhead access within the port and electrification of the rail link through Falkirk Grahamston
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better connections to the M9 motorway
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a better link to the M8 and the south via an improved A801
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improvements to the local road network, including separation of community and dock traffic
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any measures necessary to protect the area from coastal flooding
A second of the 12 national developments, involving Electricity Grid reinforcements, might also affect the Falkirk Council area in the shape of the controversial Beauly to Denny overhead powerline.
Also coming into effect in April are parts 1, 2 and 10 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008; of immediate relevance, through these regulations, is the requirement for mandatory pre-application consultation for all major and national developments.
A proposal of application notice is required a minimum of 12 weeks before the application is submitted e.g. for applications which are to be submitted on 3 August 2009 the proposal of application notice will need to be submitted by 11 May.
The proposal of application notice must provide details of the proposal and what pre-application consultation will be carried out.
It must also be served on affected Community Councils. The planning authority has 21 days to respond to the notice. It will be published on the weekly list. Applicants can ask for a pre-application screening opinion from the council to determine if the proposal falls into either major or national category of development.
The regulations and our guidance page provide greater detail on what the requirements are, but as a minimum there will be 1 public event and a newspaper advert. We may require you to do more.
If an application does not meet the new requirements it will be returned.