Scottish Community Consultation Advice Note

The Scottish Government published Planning Advice Note (PAN) 3 / 2010 Community Engagement at the end of August. This provides an update on PAN 81 (Community Engagement) which dates from March 2007. The most important aspect of the new PAN is guidance on the statutory consultation requirements associated with the new Scottish Planning System which were introduced in August last year.

Summary of the PAN guidance:

"Effective engagement with public can lead to better plans, better decisions and more satisfactory outcomes and can help to avoid delays in the planning process. It also improves confidence in the fairness of the planning system. The Scottish Government expects engagement with the public to be meaningful and to occur from the earliest stages in the planning process to enable community views to be reflected in development plans and development proposals."

The PAN sets out the statutory requirements of the planning system plus advice to communities, developers and planning authorities on engaging effectively. It seeks to encourage engagement with communities from the earliest possible stage to enable views to be refl ected in development plans and on individual proposals.

Roles and responsibilities:

The document sets out the roles and responsibilities for all parties involved in the planning system in relation to community engagement; including the Scottish Government, the Planning Authority, Community Councils, Voluntary, Interest and Amenity Groups, and Applicants and their Agents.

The statutory requirements on prospective applicants to engage with the community apply to planning applications which fall into the "National" and "Major" categories of the new planning system. It cautions councillors to be wary of offering a view on development proposals when involved in pre-application community consultation (which in our experience some wished to do when the new system started last year).

A reminder of the types of development that require statutory community consultation which are :

• National developments - which are those listed in the National Planning Framework;
• Major developments - these are larger developments contained in a list of nine classes, such as 50 or more dwellings, developments on larger sites, certain waste and transport infrastructure and larger-scale mixed use developments.

There are no statutory consultation requirements for developments in the "Local development" category (which are those not in the above categories).

The Statutory Requirements

The statutory pre-application process provides an opportunity for communities to be informed about development proposals and to have an opportunity to contribute their views before a formal planning application is submitted to the planning authority. The PAN provides guidance for developers in complying with the requirements of pre-application consultation in Circular 4/2009 (Development
Management Procedures). The statutory requirement are:

• The submission of a proposal of application notice to the planning authority, at least 12 weeks before submitting an application for planning permission. This notice must also be sent to relevant community councils and must describe the proposed consultation process;
• Consultation with relevant community councils;
• At least one public event, which is to be advertised in the local press at least 7 days before the event; and
• Preparation of a "Pre-Application Consultation Report" which describes the consultation process and how the statutory requirements have been complied with. The report must be submitted with the subsequent planning application.

Local Development Plan consultation

A change in development plan procedures which not everyone may have appreciated, is that when a planning authority publishes a draft Local Development Plan, it must carry-out neighbour notification for sites that are the subject of specific development proposals. This will certainly focus public attention on land releases in development plans and lessen the opportunities for community groups to claim ignorance of an allocation when the planning application is subsequently lodged. It could on the other hand encourage greater community involvement and participation in development plan inquiries.

Good practice guidance

The PAN's actual guidance on good community consultation is quoted from the National Standards for Community Engagement, published by the RTPI in 2005. This comprises 10 Standards, which are as follows.

Standard 1: Involvement : Identify and involve the people and organisations who have an interest in the focus of the engagement.
Standard 2: Support : Identify and overcome any barriers to involvement.
Standard 3: Planning : Gather evidence of need and resources to agree purpose, scope and actions.
Standard 4: Methods : Agree and use methods of engagement that are fit for purpose.
Standard 5: Working Together : Agree and use clear procedures that enable participants to work together effectively and efficiently.
Standard 6: Sharing Information : Ensure necessary information is communicated between the participants.
Standard 7: Working with Others : Work effectively with others with an interest.
Standard 8: Improvement : Develop the skills, knowledge and confi dence of the participants.
Standard 9: Feedback : Feedback results to the wider community and agencies affected.
Standard 10: Monitoring and Evaluation : Monitor and evaluate whether engagement achieves its purpose and meets the national standards for community engagement.

In addition, the benefits of SP=EED, a benchmarking tool for community engagement in planning prepared by Planning Aid for Scotland, are noted as being a useful form of guidance for community engagement. It is designed to be used for any consultation process, including development plan and pre-application consultations, aware that different types of consultation will be appropriate for different scenarios, and aimed at sharing good practice.

Other issues:

A related matter of considerable concern to many of our clients is the inclusion of applications to amend planning permissions under section 42 of the Planning Act in the requirement for pre-application consultation.

Recent experience has shown the many planning authorities are taking a disproportionate approach to this by requiring that a Section 42 application be submitted, even for relatively trivial alterations to a development. This has considerable time and cost implications and usually involves pre-application consultation that the community has little interest in.

A number of representations have been made to the Scottish Government on this issue, and the subject was discussed at the Pre-Application Consultation Forum held by the Government on 18th June. The Government is now considering amending this part of the new system by making an order under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. We will prepare and circulate a briefing note to advise on the outcome.

Another issue which we have already encountered and may surface further when a greater number of "major" planning applications are submitted is the extent to which councils will accept variations between the information presented at the pre-application consultation stage and the subsequent planning application. Potentially, a planning authority could take the extreme view that variation could invalidate the pre-application consultation and require a developer to repeat the 12-week process. A response to this would be that the purpose of the pre-application process is to allow a developer to respond to community views, and that variance of the proposals is a positive outcome. A tactic to lessen the chance of this would be to avoid presenting unduly-precise information at the public event.

We are happy to discuss with you the detail of the PAN, and any other aspects of the new system.