Publication - Corporate report
Planning and Environmental Appeals Division: annual review 2024 to 2025
Planning and Environmental Appeals Division's (DPEA) annual review of its performance for 2024 to 2025.
Appendix A
Statistics On Workload And Performance Against Targets
| Business year | In hand at start of the year | Received | Delegated appeals decided | Reports submitted | Withdrawn | In hand at end of the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 to 2025 | 202 | 1002 | 911 | 46 | 37 | 210 |
| 2023 to 2024 | 212 | 613 | 498 | 69 | 57 | 201 |
| 2022 to 2023 | 209 | 625 | 502 | 58 | 62 | 212 |
| 2021 to 2022 | 199 | 577 | 468 | 53 | 46 | 209 |
| 2020 to 2021 | 191 | 438 | 365 | 37 | 28 | 199 |
*Includes appeal and non-appeal cases
The total number of cases sisted/suspended as of 31 March 2025 was 54.
| Type Of Case | 2020 2021 | 2021 2022 | 2022 2023 | 2023 2024 | 2024 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Lawful Use & Development Appeal | 0 | 1 | 5 | 39 | 415 |
| Planning permission appeals | 229 | 258 | 245 | 230 | 226 |
| Planning enforcement appeals | 37 | 76 | 82 | 109 | 171 |
| Conservation area consent, listed building consent and listed building enforcement appeals | 48 | 51 | 56 | 65 | 55 |
| Advertisement consent, discontinuance notice and advertisement enforcement appeals | 33 | 23 | 43 | 39 | 38 |
| High Hedge appeal | 8 | 20 | 16 | 18 | 9 |
| All other types of appeal | 46 | 65 | 56 | 49 | 53 |
| Subtotal: all types of appeals | 401 | 494 | 503 | 549 | 967 |
| Called-in application | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Compulsory Purchase Order | 5 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
| Core Paths Plan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Discontinuance Order | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Flood Prevention Scheme | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Listed Building Notified Application | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Local Development Plan | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Notification Direction | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Notified application | 6 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Power Station | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Public path creation/diversion/extinguishment order | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Purchase Notice | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Revocation order | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Roads order | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Section 36 Wind Farm | 8 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| Section 37 Transmission line | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Stopping up order | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Strategic Development Plan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Traffic Regulation Order | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Wayleave | 8 | 44 | 85 | 28 | 12 |
| Called-in application | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Subtotal: all types of non-appeal cases | 37 | 83 | 122 | 64 | 35 |
| All Cases Received | 438 | 577 | 625 | 613 | 1002 |
| Characteristics | 2019 2020 | 2020 2021 | 2022 2023 | 2023 2024 | 2024 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advertisement | 33 | 24 | 46 | 41 | 38 |
| Agricultural | 9 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 11 |
| Animal (cattery, kennel, stable etc.) | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Battery Storage | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Building Alterations (householder) | 72 | 72 | 64 | 71 | 64 |
| Building Alterations (non-householder) | 12 | 20 | 17 | 24 | 23 |
| Business | 22 | 9 | 23 | 10 | 12 |
| Car park | 12 | 17 | 17 | 12 | 11 |
| Caravan and Campsites | 4 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 53 |
| Cemetery/Religious Building | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Chimney/Flue | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Community Asset Transfer | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Compulsory Purchase Order | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| Demolition | 13 | 13 | 23 | 19 | 17 |
| Designation of Building/Monument | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Development Plan (Local) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Dock/Harbour | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Environmental Appeal | 4 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 213 |
| Fencing/Wall | 20 | 31 | 16 | 16 | 20 |
| Fish Farm | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 212 |
| Flood Prevention Scheme | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Gatecheck | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Hazardous Substance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hedge | 8 | 20 | 15 | 18 | 9 |
| Holiday/Leisure | 10 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 48 |
| Hospital/Medical Centre | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hot Food Takeaway | 5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Hotels | 20 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| House in Multiple Occupation | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| Housing (10 or more houses) | 47 | 55 | 38 | 26 | 25 |
| Housing (more than one house) | 21 | 22 | 24 | 28 | 17 |
| Housing (single dwelling) | 47 | 43 | 65 | 40 | 33 |
| Hydro/Solar Power | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Industrial | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Landscaping | 15 | 37 | 38 | 15 | 34 |
| Leisure Facility/Ground | 7 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| Meteorological/Anemometrical Mast | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mineral Extraction | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Nursing/Care/Retirement Home | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 4 | 21 | 13 | 27 | 8 |
| Path | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| Petrol Station | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Power Station/Energy from Waste | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Recycling | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Restaurant/Cafe/Licensed Premises | 13 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 9 |
| Retail (food) | 13 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Retail (non-food) | 9 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Road/Bridge | 14 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 8 |
| Scheduled Monument | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| School/Educational | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Shed/Garage | 24 | 27 | 13 | 11 | 11 |
| Short stay accommodation | 0 | 9 | 58 | 156 | 552 |
| Storage (non-warehousing) | 12 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 9 |
| Student Accommodation | 8 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 10 |
| Substation/Transmission Line/Pipeline | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Telecommunication | 15 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 18 |
| Traffic Regulation Order | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Transport | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Travelling Persons Site | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tree | 4 | 22 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
| Warehouse/Distribution | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Waste Disposal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Water/Sewage | 8 | 8 | 10 | 35 | 25 |
| Wayleave | 8 | 44 | 84 | 28 | 10 |
| Wind Farm (two or more turbines) | 23 | 24 | 16 | 10 | 16 |
| Wind turbine (single) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Windows - Timber | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| Windows - UPVC | 6 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 11 |
| Delegate appeals | Number decided | Considered by oral process | Considered by site visit/review of written submissions | All cases allowed | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Allowed | Percentage | Total | Allowed | Percentage | Allowed | Percentage | ||
| Planning permission | 152 | 1 | 1 | 100% | 151 | 74 | 49% | 75 | 49% |
| Planning enforcement | 111 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 111 | 31 | 28% | 31 | 28% |
| Conservation area consent, listed building consent and listed building enforcement | 55 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 55 | 16 | 29% | 16 | 29% |
| Advertisement consent, discontinuance notice and advertisement enforcement | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 31 | 16 | 52% | 16 | 52% |
| High Hedge appeal | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 13 | 10 | 77% | 10 | 77% |
| All others | 423 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 422 | 37 | 9% | 37 | 9% |
| All Delegated Appeals | 785 | 2 | 1 | 50% | 783 | 184 | 23% | 185 | 24% |
| Non-delegated Appeals | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| All Appeals | 787 | 4 | 1 | 25% | 783 | 184 | 23% | 185 | 24% |
*In addition, a further 126 appeals were turned away as we had no powers to determine them
| Case types | Number decided | Considered by oral process | Considered by site visit/review of written submissions | All cases allowed | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Allowed | Percentage | Total | Allowed | Percentage | Allowed | Percentage | ||
| Called-in application | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 1 | 100% |
| Compulsory Purchase Order | 4 | 4 | 4 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 4 | 100% |
| Notification Direction | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 100% |
| Notified application | 11 | 2 | 2 | 100% | 9 | 5 | 56% | 7 | 64% |
| Power Station | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 1 | 100% |
| Section 36 Wind Farm | 5 | 5 | 4 | 80% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 4 | 80% |
| Section 37 Transmission line | 6 | 6 | 6 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 6 | 100% |
| Stopping up order | 4 | 2 | 2 | 100% | 2 | 2 | 100% | 4 | 100% |
| Wayleave | 5 | 3 | 3 | 100% | 2 | 2 | 100% | 5 | 100% |
| Total: All Non-appeal Cases | 38 | 24 | 23 | 96% | 14 | 10 | 71% | 33 | 87% |
| Planning authority | Appeals decided | Appeals allowed | Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen City Council | 14 | 7 | 50% |
| Aberdeenshire Council | 12 | 7 | 58% |
| Angus Council | 6 | 1 | 17% |
| Argyll and Bute Council | 9 | 3 | 33% |
| Cairngorms National Park Authority | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| City of Edinburgh Council | 336 | 61 | 18% |
| Clackmannanshire Council | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Dumfries and Galloway Council | 8 | 5 | 63% |
| Dundee City Council | 7 | 3 | 43% |
| East Ayrshire Council | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| East Lothian Council | 45 | 6 | 13% |
| East Renfrewshire Council | 3 | 1 | 33% |
| Falkirk Council | 5 | 2 | 40% |
| Fife Council | 13 | 6 | 46% |
| Glasgow City Council | 182 | 22 | 12% |
| Highland Council | 15 | 10 | 67% |
| Historic Environment Scotland | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Inverclyde Council | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Midlothian Council | 3 | 2 | 67% |
| Moray Council | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| North Lanarkshire Council | 5 | 1 | 20% |
| Orkney Islands Council | 7 | 1 | 14% |
| Perth and Kinross Council | 32 | 19 | 59% |
| Renfrewshire Council | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Scottish Borders Council | 11 | 5 | 45% |
| Scottish Forestry | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| South Ayrshire Council | 5 | 1 | 20% |
| Planning authority | Appeals decided | Appeals allowed | Success rate |
| South Lanarkshire Council | 12 | 3 | 25% |
| Stirling Council | 11 | 2 | 18% |
| West Dunbartonshire Council | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| West Lothian Council | 23 | 7 | 30% |
| Total | 785 | 185 | 24% |
Note: if an authority is not listed in table 5 it means no delegated decisions have been issued for sites within said authority’s area within the period.
| Gatecheck Examination | Number of reporters | Weeks to complete |
|---|---|---|
| Glasgow City Council City Development Plan 2 - Evidence Report Gate Check - Re-Submission | 1 | 5.2 |
| Dumfries And Galloway Council Local Development Plan 3 - Evidence Report Gate Check. | 1 | 10.5 |
| East Lothian Council Local Development Plan 2 - Evidence Report For Gatecheck | 1 | 12 |
| Falkirk Local Development Plan 3 (Ldp3) - Evidence Report Submission For Gate Check | 1 | 12 |
| East Lothian Council Local Development Plan 2 - Evidence Report For Gatecheck | 1 | 3.1 |
| East Renfrewshire Local Development Plan 3 - Evidence Report Gate Check | 1 | 12.1 |
| Midlothian Council Local Development Plan 2 - Evidence Report Gate Check | 1 | 11.6 |
| Glasgow City Council City Development Plan 2 - Evidence Report Gate Check | 1 | 12 |
| Moray Council Local Development Plan 2027 - Evidence Report Gate Check | 1 | 13.5 |
| Fife Council Local Development Plan 2 - Evidence Report Gate Check | 1 | 11 |
| Gatecheck Examination | Received |
|---|---|
| Stirling Local Development Plan 3 - Evidence Report For Gate Check Examination | 28/03/2025 |
| Perth And Kinross Local Development Plan 3 – Evidence Report – Gate Check Request | 27/03/2025 |
| Procedure | Target number of weeks to determine | Number of appeals | Performance against target | Average weeks taken to determine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written Submissions | 12 | 688 | 93.06% | 11.6 |
| Further Written Submission | 20 | 96 | 72.92% | 23.3 |
| Hearing | 40 | 2 | 50% | 41.1 |
| Inquiry | 50 | 0 | n/a | n/a |
| Case types | Reports submitted | Average weeks taken to submit |
|---|---|---|
| Recalled Planning/Listed Building Appeals | 3 | 29.5 |
| Called-in & Notified Applications | 10 | 30.7 |
| Compulsory Purchase Orders | 7 | 36.3 |
| Other Orders | 9 | 25.3 |
| Section 36 Wind Farm Applications | 8 | 57.9 |
| Wayleave Applications | 9 | 25.5 |
| Planning authority | PARFs received in year | Returned within 21 days | % Returned within 21 days | Average days to submit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen City Council | 12 | 9 | 75% | 22.0 |
| Aberdeenshire Council | 11 | 7 | 64% | 23.7 |
| Angus Council | 5 | 3 | 60% | 17.8 |
| Argyll and Bute Council | 10 | 6 | 60% | 28.5 |
| Cairngorms National Park Authority | 1 | 0 | 0% | 28.0 |
| City of Edinburgh Council | 344 | 285 | 83% | 16.2 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) | 3 | 3 | 100% | 17.7 |
| Dumfries and Galloway Council | 5 | 1 | 20% | 28.2 |
| Dundee City Council | 9 | 7 | 78% | 16.9 |
| East Ayrshire Council | 4 | 2 | 50% | 22.3 |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | 3 | 0 | 0% | 26.3 |
| East Lothian Council | 39 | 36 | 92% | 11.2 |
| East Renfrewshire Council | 5 | 2 | 40% | 27.6 |
| Falkirk Council | 5 | 3 | 60% | 20.2 |
| Fife Council | 13 | 8 | 62% | 24.2 |
| Glasgow City Council | 177 | 104 | 59% | 23.6 |
| Highland Council | 25 | 14 | 56% | 21.5 |
| Historic Environment Scotland | 2 | 2 | 100% | 21.0 |
| Inverclyde Council | 4 | 3 | 75% | 21.0 |
| Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority | 2 | 0 | 0% | 30.5 |
| Midlothian Council | 4 | 4 | 100% | 19.5 |
| Moray Council | 3 | 0 | 0% | 34.7 |
| North Ayrshire Council | 1 | 0 | 0% | 25.0 |
| North Lanarkshire Council | 6 | 0 | 0% | 25.7 |
| Orkney Islands Council | 9 | 6 | 67% | 22.3 |
| Perth and Kinross Council | 25 | 19 | 76% | 18.0 |
| Planning authority | PARFS received in year | Returned within 21 days | % Returned within 21 days | Average days to submit |
| Renfrewshire Council | 5 | 5 | 100% | 18.0 |
| Scottish Borders Council | 9 | 5 | 56% | 24.2 |
| Stirling Council | 6 | 4 | 67% | 20.0 |
| West Dunbartonshire Council | 1 | 1 | 100% | 21.0 |
| Overall | 786 | 562 | 72% | 22.8 |
Contact
Email: dpea@gov.scot