Planning applications: key agency rapid planning audits

Annex 1 – Paul Cackette CV

Paul Cackette is the former Chief Planning Reporter to the Scottish Government, with responsibility in that role for the Scottish planning and environmental appeals system. He held that post from August 2016.

He qualified as a lawyer in 1985 and worked in the Scottish Government Legal Directorate from 1988, becoming Director of Legal Services and Head of the Government Legal Service in Scotland in May 2018. He previously acted as Legal Secretary to the Lord Advocate and then Deputy Solicitor to the Scottish Government. Paul worked in Justice policy from 2003 to 2008 as Head of Civil Justice and International Division, with policy responsibility for leading a major reform of the Scottish civil justice system and responsibility for the then Scottish Executive in the setting up of the UK Supreme Court.

He was Scottish Government Whistleblowing Champion from 2012.

In March 2020, he was redeployed within the Scottish Government to be Director PPE and then Director of Outbreak Management during the Covid pandemic. He held these posts until retiring in 2021.

He is a member of the Planning Committee of the Law Society for Scotland.

Paul was appointed CBE for services to the Scottish Government in 2021.

In 2022, he carried out a review of systems and procedures in the Republic of Ireland planning system, looking at An Bord Pleanala, instructed by the Attorney General of Ireland and the Office of the Planning Regulator.

On 1 September 2022, Paul took up the role of Visiting Professor of Public Law at Strathclyde University, renewed in September 2025.

On 1 November 2023, Paul became a Legal Board member of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.