Minister pressed on Holyrood’s powers to probe planning dept

A campaigning community council has challenged a local politician to suggest what options it has to push for Perth and Kinross Council’s planning department’s conduct to be probed by Scottish ministers.

Scone and District Community Council has written to Deputy First Minister John Swinney expressing its “extreme disappointment” at a statement sent out by the Scottish Government’s Local Government and Housing Minister, Kevin Stewart MSP.

Mr Stewart’s comment put on record the government has “no plans” to bring into force a section of an Act under which it could have stepped in to assess PKC planners’ performance and decision making.

SDCC had previously written to Mr Swinney, the MSP for Perthshire North, requesting that he ask ministers to investigate how the Local Development Plan [LDP] was drafted after it uncovered evidence suggesting a former PKC depute chief executive watered down the wording of an embargo on new housing north of the village at the request of developers without consulting the public.

The evidence came to light ahead of a meeting last year where PKC officials further “redefined” the embargo to mean an application lodged by A&J Stephen to build up to 700 houses at Scone North could now be determined and approved as long as the local authority decides the proposed Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR) is a so-called “committed project” in the meantime.

The group said in its letter to Mr Swinney: “Our concerns centre around the actions of ... council officers in the preparation, interpretation and handling of matters connected to the LDP.

“The Planning (Scotland) Act 2006 makes provision ... for an assessment of a planning authority’s performance or decision making. Scottish Ministers may conduct, or appoint a person ... to conduct on their behalf, an assessment of a planning authority’s performance ... of functions generally under the Planning Acts or ... of particular functions under those Acts.

“Recent events and actions by PKC have only increased our concerns in this matter and we would formally request that you ensure such an investigation is instigated by the appropriate minister.”

But in a letter to SDCC, seen by the PA, Mr Stewart said: “In relation to the specific request to implement Part 2a of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2006, we have no plans to commence the section of the 2006 Act relating to the assessment of planning authority performance; therefore it is not currently in force.

“I should also emphasise that these assessment provisions, had they been commenced, would not have empowered the government to assess an authority’s action in relation to one specific case.

“Any assessment would have had to be based on a longer history of concerns about an authority’s performance and decision making.”

SDCC has since written again to Mr Swinney stating the apparent lack of Scottish Government oversight “may very well be the reason for the mishandling of matters which has occurred within PKC” and asking him to suggest what other options are available to the group to have the matter examined.

Its letter to Mr Swinney said: “We are ... extremely disappointed and concerned regarding the minister’s statement. In effect ... the Scottish Government, by selectively not commencing this process, has abdicated its inherent responsibilities in respect of monitoring and control of local government actions, as given by the Act.

“The very lack of this monitoring process and potentially knowledge of this lack of assessment by the local authority planning officials may very well be the reason for the mishandling of matters which has occurred within PKC.

“In light of the failure by the Scottish Government to commence the section ... of the 2006 Act relating to the assessment of planning authority performance, can you please indicate which route can be pursued to ensure the accountability of the planning officers of PKC?”

Asked what he was prepared to do now in response to SDCC’s latest letter, Mr Swinney reiterated that he would continue to “pursue PKC ... to fully and properly address the local concerns over the change in wording used to describe the Scone North development in the LDP.”

Asked why the specific section of the 2006 Act – which would allow ministers to assess council planner’s performance – had still not been “commenced”, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The government has no plans to commence the section of the 2006 Act relating to the assessment of planning authority performance.

“Instead we have an annual programme of performance monitoring through our Planning Performance Reports where authorities, agencies and the Scottish Government set out details of their performance over the year and commit to service improvements for the following year.

“Authorities submit these to the Scottish Government, and receive feedback on key performance markers.”

Responding to the community council’s latest push for an inquiry into the controversy surrounding the drafting of the LDP, a PKC spokesperson commented: ”PKC maintains its previously stated stance on this matter and confirms that the correct process was followed.

“This process involved the Scottish Government Reporter who made changes to the LDP, which the council was legally bound to accept.”

We are ... extremely disappointed and concerned regarding the minister’s statement