As the header suggests, I am pleased to report Highland Planning has been able to turn around another house refusal on appeal to the Council's Review Body. The case involving a house outside Wick had been refused on Settlement Boundary and Housing in the Countryside Policy issues. So, of the five Reviews conducted on client's behalf since the new system came into play, three have been won. Not quite as good yet as the DPEA Appeal record but beginning to come close. Each review case has its individual merits and though, no doubt refused with the best of intentions in terms of consistency and adherence to the Develoment Plan on the part of the Appointed Officers, the latest positive result proves the flexibility of policy interpretation and the ability and preparedness of elected Members to look at proposals in a fair, reasonable and balanced manner. It all represents an encouraging sign of local democracy in action. I still have many doubts over the basic principle of the new system and, possibly unfairly, cannot help but maintain comparison with the conventional DPEA appeal system.

However, the latter is not always perfect as the recent approval of the Waste Incinerator Plant at Invergordon has proved. Whilst strictly falling in line with planning policy, I believe there has been a failing somewhere along the line in the construction of that policy at national, maybe even local level. The Reporter too I think might have made more of the material consideration that was the public interest and arguably too much weight was given to the roads officials and SEPA opinion that all would be 'alright on the night'. I remain inconvinced !

After seemingly never-ending niggles with trying to post on my blog...and not much in the way of assistance from the web host provider..Register.com (not recommended by the way), the Stateside gremlins appear to have gone for now...fingers crossed.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the last posts.... some new Scottish Government advice on HMO's and Planning Agreements to name but two. Scottish Planning Policy introduced in February this year replaces a whole raft of SPP's and NPPG's and essentially reaffirms the purpose of planning, sets out the core principles of Development Plans and Development Management, and offers broad policy objectives for nationally important land uses. 

The biggest innovation of course has been the Scheme of Delegation and Local Reviews which came into effect towards the end of 2009. This gives individual planning officers the power to refuse applications for planning permission without requiring to go before Committee. Rather than appealing such decisions to DPEA, requests for review are made to a Council Review Body comprising in Highland's case, 9 elected members.The process has been evolving, I would like to say improving, since its inception but the jury is still out on that ! The time and effort in seeking review is little different from a conventional appeal and the only opinion I can express so far is that decisions are less predictable than DPEA appeal. In % terms, my success rate is 50% as opposed to 75% with DPEA. Hopefully, however, that will improve over the next month or so. Suffice to say its easy to be critical of some of the decisions so far but I think that reflects the lack of training afforded the members and the demanding responsibilities placed upon them....all symptomatic of a system foisted upon us with little warning or funding and for the wrong reasons.

Locally, Highland in September published its Interim Supplementary Guidance on Housing in the Countryside. I have described that exercise, maybe unfairly, as the Council being dragged kicking and screaming to the table to review and relax its housing policies. I dont think it has gone far enough and gets its emphasis wrong in places but is a step in a new direction and for now will have to see us through to the preparation of the Highland Wide Local Plan. There are changes though and it allows for some development where it didnt before....so well worth a look.

Section 75 Agreements continue to trouble many housebuilders and recent times has seen serious problems arising for mortgage applications, despite official views to the contrary. At least the situation has been addressed recently by the Cairngorms National Park Authority who appear to be a step ahead of Highland in appreciating the difficulties posed by these, in my opinion, draconian controls.

I'd best stop before the bullets start flying !

The blog is back up and running though....and hopefully trouble free !!

 

Its not often I am pleased to report on the new changes to the planning system but the changes to the neighbour notification procedure whereby the identification of affected neighbours and the serving of notice thereupon will, from 3 August, next week, be the responsibity of the planning authority and not, as has been the case until now, the applicant.
This will relieve applicants of a sometimes complex and time consuming task, not to mention some expense too. However, how long can we thank all those miscreants who have either erroneously or deliberately got their notices wrong for saving us time and cash before we are cursing them as the planning authorities seek an inordinate raising of planning fees to cover their (for certain) rising admin costs ?
Watch this space !

ps I may be wrong but not a cheep from Highland Council about the impending changes. I might have missed something too in the planning press but have The Orcadian to thank for running a story last week while I was holidaying on sunny Orkney.

pps Anyone interested in renting a holiday cottage on Sanday for either of the two middle weeks in August, possibly also September...let me know. Generous discount for readers of my Blog !

As part of the modernisation of the planning system, Highland Council have announced the next stage of their changes in the determination of local planning applications.
 
Appeals against planning application refusals issued under delegation by planning officers will, by 3August, be heard by a Review Body rather than by appeal to the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Apeals. The proposed Highland Review Body will comprise nine councillors – three from each operational area – Caithness, Sutherland and Ester Ross; Ross, Skye and Lochaber; and Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch ad Strathspey. The effectiveness of the Review Group will be reviewed after nine months.

Mixed emotions here ! I have never been in favour of delegation of refusals to officials and retain the belief refusals should still go before a planning committee. Further, the independence of the DPEA has always seemed vital. It is hard to accept a review panel of elected members from the same authority represents proper independence. Though details are not available, the initial thoughts of the then Scottish Executive in promoting modernisation suggested an appeal procedure broadly similar to that which exists, namely submission of grounds of appeal and officer case file, decision, and the officer's response to the grounds of appeal ...all going before the Review Body who will then carry out an 'independent review' of the officers decision, rather than considering the proposal afresh.

The City of Edinburgh Council has been more forthcoming on how it will manage the changes and I would have to suspect Highland's will be broadly similar. There, the method of review will be agreed beforehand (whether written submissions or hearing). The Review Body will be able to uphold, reverse or vary the the officer decision. It will make its decision clear and specify what considerations were taken into account. A further appeal on that decision can only be  made to the Court of Session on a point of law. An interesting change though from the present is that applicants will only have 3 months to appeal or request a review.

So, the real change appears to be reducing the workload of the DPEA and keeping the decision making locally. All good stuff in theory but ..independent ?...for now I don't think so !

We can only wait and see.

Apparently, the Scottish Government is considering whether to raise planning fees as early as August in return for speedier decision making. It is reported that up to 20% of a hike could be justified as present fees only cover 83% of Planning System costs (not sure if thats an uptodate recession-affected figure). Understandably, on the basis speedier decisions and better attention saves money all round, the larger developers are keen on the idea but point out, getting their money back if their decisions are delayed, would not be unreasonable !
Unless planning authority resources are increased dramatically, it would seem such an arrangement might not be the most straightforward streamlining idea to implement in practice. Chances are we will get the fee increase, and soon, but merely alligned to some further committment to performance examination.

As part of Scottish Government's attempts to streamline the planning System, enhance the service and provide more openness and accountability, Highland Council has recently launched its ePlanning system whereby planning applications can be submitted and existing applications can be viewed, tracked and commented upon online. Simple searches can be conducted by address, postcode or application reference or more advanced searches via applicant name, community council/ward area, Committee date etc. A slightly irritating aspect I have found so far is, unless you know the applicant's name, it will not accompany the application details once found, nor will the decision date (delegated or Committee) if the application has been determined. These are useful details in providing comprehensive 'at a glance' information. Google the determined application reference number and eventually you ought to find the Planing Officer's report but I would have thought it easier to have provided that basic info as part of the initial search. Maybe, the info is there and it just my initial attempts to access the system but, if these advances are to be a success, they must be quick, efficient and user friendly. I have no doubt a tremendous amount of work has gone into creating the system and the general philosophy is to be welcomed. Hopefully, any initial teething problems will be be quickly overcome. Personally, my biggest problem will be trusting the accuracy of the data base but maybe that confidence will come through continued use over time.
To get started the initial link to check out and register as a user is http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/planning/eplanning/

Highland Council has recently undertaken a review of the existing Housing in the Countryside Development Planning Policy Guidance.  The review examined the effectiveness and fit for purpose of the existing houisng in the countryside policy as set out in the Structure Plan, Local Plans and associated Development Plan Policy Guidance. The interim guidance provides the Council’s policy approach to Housing in the Countryside in advance of the Highland wide Local Development Plan. The Council now invites feedback on the document and changes to policy approach to housing in the countryside. The document is available at Council Headquarters, Inverness and online from Friday 24^th April for a period of 4 weeks. The closing date for responses is Friday, 22^nd May 2009.

Check

http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/planning/consultations.htm

This policy will be of particular interest to those seekiing to develop a house or houses in those areas of the Highland countryside currently subject to the over-prohibitive Hinterland policy. Once reviewed, the policy will dictate the pattern of rural housing development for many years to come.

Personally, I believe there was little or no justification for a policy which restricts development purely in terms of its distance relationship with Inverness. Its limitations were expressed at its conception and my gut reaction is these appear to have been passed over and the inpression now is we are dealing with a review to an established policy whose foundations are beyond question. I think this is presents a basic weakness in the new policy. Also, I do not believe it goes nearly far enough to meet the spirit of the guidance issued by the Scottish Government. The areas of 'relaxation'' only serve to confuse and, as they are currently presented, may result in denying some of the best opportunities the countryside has to offer for accomodating new housing whilst seemingly encouraging the potential for some misplaced and less than ideal development .

I'd be interested to know other perspectives on the new policy and , of course, if I can help you present your observations to Highland Council, just get in touch.

Highland Council has updated its Development Plan Scheme which explains what future local development plans for Highland will contain; when they are likely to be produced; and how individuals, communities and organisations can be involved in making these plans.

The Scheme may be viewed at http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/planning/developmentplans/developmentplanscheme.ht
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Should you be at all interested in the forthcoming round of Local Development Plans then it is well worth a read in order to understand the processes and procedures being pursued by Highland Council in tems of strategic planning

From 6 April 2009,  the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 obliges potential major development applicants to engage in pre-application discussions with local planning authorities. Highland Council has published its Guidelines on this new procedure and these can be found at ;

http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3356F297-5C65-4B93-8F9B-D444ED740846/0/maj_dev_SPG_Feb09_forWEB.pdf 

The objective is to help make the planning process more efficient by encouraging early and effective consultation thus avoiding some of the difficult situations that may arise during the application process.

A Major Development team will meet on a monthly basis in Inverness and a pre-application request form must be lodged with the Council at last 4 weeks before the meeting date sought.

Highland Planning is available to accept Major Development pre-application commissions.

Somewhat fittingly, on Friday 13th, I learnt the web host, Register.com, had lost my original webpage. I have commenced reconstruction and will hopefully have everything updated before too long.
Thank you for your patience.

Dave