Local Development Plans: Joint Chief Planner and NPIC letter – September 2026

18 September 2026

Dear Colleagues,

Delivering Local Development Plans: action plan and advice 

Local development plans (LDPs) are a key tool for planning authorities to be clear with the public, investors and the wider council in decisions about the future development of our places, and to attract and enable the investment we need.  

The form, content and timely preparation of LDPs play a pivotal role in helping us to address the housing emergency, attract investment and enable development. Through the new system we have a real opportunity to reduce complexity and increase certainty.

Strong leadership is required across all parties. Chief Planning Officers have a critical role to play in championing new approaches, fostering collaboration and ensuring plans deliver on the aspirations of the new system. Scottish Government is committed to providing clarity on the ambitions for Local Development Plans. The Improvement Service will continue to provide a ‘critical friend’ role through the National Planning Improvement Champion. The National Planning Hub will support stakeholders to be equipped to deliver. Success depends on all parties embracing these opportunities and supporting the preparation and delivery of place-based plans.

As part of our role to support the delivery of new-style LDPs we co-chaired a Summit on 10th August 2026. The Summit had a focus on the Proposed Plan stage, building on the previous Evidence Report Summit and Action Plan and the workshop on updated evidence in the LDP process. The August Summit brought together key public sector partners, including Heads of Planning, the Improvement Service, Key Agencies Group and officials from the DPEA, Planning Directorate and the National Planning Hub to share knowledge, discuss Ministers' expectations, and explore how we can all support the timely delivery of new-style plans. 

A resulting Action Plan and Advice Note has been prepared, which sets out agreed actions for all lead partners, these are to be taken with immediate effect. 

The preparation of new style LDPs whilst inevitably challenging at times, also presents a significant and exciting opportunity to reset how we plan and shape our places for the future. Rather than adapting established practices to fit new requirements, we all need to embrace the culture change that sits at the heart of the new planning system. 

The aim should be to make the preparation of new plans as simple, fast, efficient and transparent as possible. Authorities should prioritise having adopted plans in place as soon as possible and should look to progress relevant improvement actions identified through the National Planning Improvement Framework. All parties involved should work collaboratively and ensure that appropriate resources are made available within their organisations to support the progress of plans with a clear sense of urgency. 

The March 2026 Chief Planner letter indicated Proposed Plans, including site allocations, should carry significant weight in decision-making.  Proposed plans provide a strong indication of the Council’s view of where new development should take place and where it should not, based on comprehensive evidence.

Making the National Planning Framework part of the development plan was intended to ensure that national planning policies are set out at a national level, allowing planning authorities to focus their efforts on the spatial aspects of how their places will develop. The expectation is that LDPs will contain a very limited number of policies.

Planning guidance continues to have an important role in providing more detailed development management guidance. It is a flexible tool that can be updated more readily and given appropriate weight in decision-making. We see merit in this approach as a way  of keeping LDPs streamlined, user-friendly and focused on showing the spatial strategy and how it will be delivered through a series of masterplans, development briefs and other place-based frameworks.

To support the delivery of this Action Plan, the Improvement Service, working in partnership with the National Planning Hub, will host a face to face workshop in Edinburgh on 12th November 2026 to bring together planning authorities, Scottish Government, the Improvement Service, DPEA, key agencies and representatives from the development industry. Further information will follow shortly. 

To support LDP performance there continues to be an extensive package of support available through the National Planning Improvement team and the National Planning Hub, for further information please contact NPI@improvementservice.org.uk or visit the webpages.

The decisions we make now will establish important precedents for the future, so it is essential that we take this opportunity to set the right direction, demonstrate the value of the new approach, and deliver on the ambitions and aspirations that underpin the new system.

Yours sincerely

Craig McLaren, FRTPI    
National Planning Improvement Champion    

Dr Fiona Simpson, FRTPI
Chief Planner and Director