Planning and Environmental Appeals Stakeholder Forum minutes: November 2024

Attendees and apologies

DPEA attendees

• Scott Ferrie - Deputy Director, Chief Reporter Planning & Environmental Appeals
• David Henderson - Head of Performance and Administration
• Allison Coard - Assistant Chief Reporter
• David Liddell - Assistant Chief Reporter
• Sonya Thomas – Business Support Officer

Stakeholders attendees

• Aileen Jackson - Scotland Against Spin
• Bernard Whittle - Heads of Planning
• Clare Symonds - Planning Democracy and acting as a representative for Scottish Environment Link.
• David Law – NatureScot
• David Melhuish - Confederation of St Andrews Residents Association (CSARA)
• Jenny Munro - RTPI Scotland
• Joe Dagen - Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
• John Esslemont - Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS)
• Maurice O’Carroll – Scottish Planning, Local Government and Environmental Law Bar Group
• Rachel Connor - Scotland Against Spin
• Lorna MacLean – SEPA
• Kevin Mooney – Historic Environment Scotland
• Morag Watson - Scottish Renewables
• Suzanne McIntosh - Sir Frank Mears Associates & Association of Mediators
• Bruce Walker – Barrat Homes

Apologies

• Alan Farquhar – SEPA
• David Wood – Planning Aid Scotland
• Robbie Forbes - Law Society of Scotland
• Richard Henderson - Balerno Community Trust and South West Communities Forum
• Mags Simpson – CBI
• James Sloan – CBI
• Euan Pearson – Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
• Suzanne McIntosh - Sir Frank Mears Associates & Association of Mediators
• Donald Campbell – Heads of Planning
• Esmé Clelland - RSPB and Scottish Environment Link
• Adele Shaw - Historic Environment Scotland
• David Middleton - Confederation of St Andrews Residents Association (CSARA)
• Megan Amundson - Scottish Renewables
• Marcus Trinick - Scottish Renewables
• Michael Greig - Law Society of Scotland
• Richard Lewington – Homes for Scotland
• Richard Broadley – Planning and Environment Manager

Items and actions

Welcome

Scott Ferrie welcomed Stakeholders and led introductions.

Minutes of last meeting and matters arising

David Henderson – post inquiry feedback

DPEA is now issuing feedback forms to participants at hearing and inquiry sessions, Coul Links was the first one which feedback is being gathered for. Results will be shared with the Group.

Rachel Connor – concern at the UK Govt consultation on changes to the Electricity Act.

Scott Ferrie – DPEA is not running the consultation so cannot comment on this.

DPEA update, resourcing and challenges ahead

Scott Ferrie - Live cases as high as 170% above normal numbers, a challenging time for DPEA, performance against targets had been expected to dip but overall DPEA has been continuing to perform well.

The flow of short term lets are not diminishing.  

Quarter 1 is expected to bring an increase in transmission line and associated applications.

Work is ongoing internally with colleagues in ECU to prepare for the increased workflow.

The 3-month target for Gate check examinations has been met in all cases.

Karen Heywood is retiring. She has been with DPEA for 25 years and will be hugely missed. Internal recruitment is ongoing.

Mid-year stats

David Henderson -

553 cases received in 6 months, 613 last year in total.

DPEA normally has around  220 cases live cases - at this date this number stands at 356.

Similar numbers in housing appeals received from previous years.

Short term let (STL) appeals received -  39 last year and 262 received in the first half of this year.

Meeting regularly with Edinburgh Council to discuss numbers and handling issues, but not the merits of individual appeals.

DPEA expecting to see an increase in larger scale housing appeals following the Mossend court challenge.

Student accommodation - 7 appeals received this year so far, 8 in total last year.

52% planning appeals allowed, 14% STL appeals allowed.

Performance against Ministerial targets across the board has been extremely good.

Reports have been issued on target (52 weeks) in the majority of S36 windfarm applications. The outlier to that was the three conjoined wind farm applications in Ayrshire.

Rachel Conner –was surprised that out of 10 windfarm cases only one oral session had been held. She was concerned about the reduced public representation for windfarm appeals.

David Henderson confirmed that reporters are encouraged to only use hearing and inquiry sessions where necessary, and that it is the reporter’s decision on what procedures are required to gather the evidence.

Joe Dagen had a question about the City of Edinburgh Council’s scheme of delegation.

Scott Ferrie – CEC’s scheme of delegation determines whether the appeal goes to DPEA or LRB, determined against the scheme in place when the decision is made, not when the application was submitted.

Suzanne McIntosh had a question about the success rates for certificates of lawfulness for short term lets.

David Henderson – will circulate data from the start of 2022 to present, including the number decided and the number allowed.

Suzanne McIntosh – short term let operators are keen to keep going  in business and are continuing to submit applications.

Electricity Act casework

David Liddell shared PowerPoint slides

If there is an objection to a wayleave application, then it comes to DPEA. Planning applications for substations do not go to DPEA unless an appeal is made.

There are three upcoming large power line applications which could come before DPEA as section 36 applications, with attendant wayleaves and compulsory purchase orders:

• Spittal to Beauly via Loch Buidhe
• Beauly to Peterhead via Blackhillock and New Dear
• Kintore to Tealing

He also highlighted Western Isles connection project. Spittal to Peterhead and Eastern Link are offshore projects -  offshore development is not handled by DPEA, however onshore aspects of these could potentially come before DPEA.

DPEA is Working with the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) and the transmission operators to better understand the likely timing of these applications.

Clare Symonds asked to have slides shared.

Aileen Jackson - Don't underestimate the strength of feeling of communities in the Highlands and NE of Scotland.  They are gathering in their thousands to object to these overhead lines.

Clare Symonds - It will also be a massive additional burden on communities to keep up and respond to these applications.

Morag Watson – will there be a guidance note shared?

David Henderson – we can look at if there is one and may edit and established guidance note 23

David Law – there is no mention of the Skye reinforcement project

David Liddell – understand that application is with ECU, but not aware of its current state of progress.

David Law – he is aware of a few cases where the objection from the planning authority was out of time, and so these would not come to DPEA.

Scott Ferrie – such applications can still get referred to DPEA if Ministers choose to do so.

Rachel Conner – post submission amendments mean that the public don’t have opportunity to make comments

Scott Ferrie – the message to transmission operators is that the applications must be right first time, if further environmental information is required then the ambition for a decision within 52 weeks will not be achieved. Agree that it can be frustrating for parties when additional information is submitted when moving towards a public inquiry.

Rachel Conner – if you take oral procedures out of the equation then it appears that decisions are being made behind closed doors.

Alieen Jackson - I believe the referral is at the discretion of Ministers and there has been no update on whether an inquiry will be held yet for these applications.

Clare Symonds – will the focus on speed and efficiency affect quality, with the tight deadlines needing to be meet?

Scott Ferrie – clear that DPEA will try to meet our targets for processing applications. Hoping to get access to more resources to help with that. But meeting targets would not come at the expense of gathering the evidence the reporter needs.

Aileen Jackson – a month is not long enough to respond to a consultation on projects of this size. Aware of other projects where 3 months was allowed.

Scott Ferrie – we are not a party to the UK government consultation, so we don’t know why the time is different. We are also closely following this consultation and responses to it.

Maurice O Carroll – late environmental information causes dissatisfaction- is it time that a form of sanction is introduced when unjustifiable information is left out of the original application? Some information can significantly alter a project but can be submitted when the application is already at an advanced stage. Sanctions might include the potential award of an expenses claim, or having to make a fresh application.

Clare Symonds - a good suggestion, which I would support.

Gatecheck update

Allison Coard – working with planning authorities on likely submission dates and practicalities.

6 submitted and 4 determined

Fife – determined in July – returned to Fife with a report and recommendations

Outcomes – if evidence sufficient - letter to authority

If insufficient – assessment reports

• Moray – sufficient and feedback on submissions
• Mid Lothian sufficient
• Glasgow insufficient
• East Renfrewshire to be completed soon
• Falkirk just submitted
• East Lothian withdrawn

2025 likely a steady number of submissions

Outputs from gatecheck – decisions on website,  use the prefix ‘gate’ in the search and they should appear

Bruce Walker – greenbelt should be part of the report

Allison Coard – people would look at legislation and npf4 for greenbelt

Bruce Walker – why was East Lothian withdrawn?

Allison Coard - they were having further conversations with consultees

Bruce Walker – is there a guidance note on the indicative local housing land requirement

Allison Coard – aware Planning Directorate working on this but not seen it

DPEA updated our own guidance note, note 26 oct 2024 on website

Agenda Items submitted by stakeholders (not already covered above)

• David Law (Nature Scot) - Hearing procedures and whether further DPEA guidance would be helpful to parties.

These may be more common in future. The process is well understood for inquires but not so much for hearing sessions – team has noticed difference in procedures being followed. Request more up to date guidance in preparation for hearing sessions.

Scott Ferrie – open to the idea of developing more guidance, current practice has maybe developed a little beyond our current published guidance. It would be helpful if stakeholders could let us have a note of any inconsistencies in practice and queries or suggestions.

David Law – will collate the comments and pass on.

• Clare Symonds (Planning Democracy) - the implementation of biodiversity policies in NPF4 – Webinars are available on their website - The Nature of Planning – Winter Webinars with APRS – Planning Democracy

The latest webinar - Monitoring Biodiversity for Planning

Scott Ferrie - we weren’t aware of these and will circulate the links to reporters.

Reporters have been out on site at RSPB Skinflats and NatureScot Flanders Moss, ensuring that they have on the ground training and understanding on this issue. Awaiting updated guidance from Scottish Government. Any other suggestions for training can be passed onto DPEA

Scott Ferrie – we are in a transitional period on net gain, covering what we can by conditions, in future expecting comprehensive evidence to be submitted with applications post-dating NPF4

Rachel Conner –in practise the biodiversity net gain conditions are not enforced, leading to loss of confidence in the planning process

Clare Symonds – will post a link to the research and agrees with Rachel

Publications - Scotlink

Any other business

David law – guidance has been published on the Nature Scot website regarding aviation lighting on windfarms, relevant to the windfarm cases.

Guidance on Aviation Lighting Impact Assessment - Guidance on Aviation Lighting Impact Assessment | NatureScot A copy has been sent to DPEA to renewables library.

Joe Dagen asked about training sessions with the reporters.

Scott Ferrie – yes, the design session was last run in January, we would be interested in continuing the training in either March or April.