Planning appeals: Submitting documents electronically

This guide provides information on how to submit your appeal and any supporting information in electronic format rather than hard copy.  Submitting documents electronically helps to speed up the appeal process, allows information to be copied easily to others and makes it more cost effective and efficient for all the parties involved

You can submit appeals electronically:

• via the ePlanning.scot website, whether or not you used the site to submit a related application to the planning authority (Council)

• directly to Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) by e-mail

 

Appeal forms for submission by email can be downloaded and saved to your computer.  Once completed they should sent to DPEA, along with all other supporting documents, using the contact details given further on.

 

1. What format should I use when submitting appeal documents?

If possible documents should be sent as PDFs as this is the format we use to publish to our web site. We can, however, accept any of the following file formats:

• PDF
• JPEG
• Excel
• Word

If documents cannot be sent electronically then a paper copy must be provided.

 

2. Are there any size limits for electronic appeal documents?

We will publish documents up to 30 MB in size on our website however you should note that any emails over 20 MB will not get through to us therefore documents over this size would need to be split or submitted using an alternative secure transfer method or by compressing files into a zipped folder. Please contact DPEA if you need any assistance with the electronic submission of documentation.

 

Documents for submission via the ePlanning.scot site are restricted to 5 MB each and the whole package of documents cannot be more than 200 MB in size

Please note that if you seek to rely only on a small section of a large document you only need to submit the relevant section. For example, in many instances it is more appropriate to send an extract of a development plan rather than the entire document.

 

3. How to name and index your appeal documents

Before submitting your documents please take the time to name them as clearly as possible. Also sending a document list or index is a great help; it helps our administration team easily identify documents and acts as a checklist to ensure that we have received everything required.

 

4. Can I send links to documents?

We are not able to accept links to documents that are held on other websites. This is because, as the decision maker, we must hold copies of all documents and evidence referred to by parties in our records management system and can not rely on a link to a separate web site. It is the responsibility of the parties involved to send us copies of the document(s) they want us to consider as part of the appeal. It is for these reasons we cannot accept links.

It is worth remembering though that it is not necessary to submit a large policy document if you are only referring to a small section of it, sending the appropriate extract is acceptable.

 

5. Can I submit further information electronically?

Following submission of the appeal, any further information that you submit on the appeal can be sent in the same way quoting DPEA’s reference for your appeal.

For submission via the ePlanning.scot site, which can be used whether or not you used it to submit your appeal, when you get to the point where you are asked to select an online form from a list, you should select “Post Submission Additional Documents”

sending information electronically.pdf

File type

2 page PDF

File size

124.6 kB