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.