Councils trampled on as central government ignores proper planning process

You report (30 May) that “Ministers have been warned to improve planning bill” and that “opposition MSP’S claim legislation is very centralising and a power grab”.

It is sometimes overlooked that the current wish to reform the planning system through the Bill introduced late last year is the second attempt at reform in ten years. The 2005 White Paper referred to a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to reform the system. The degree to which the 2006 Planning (Scotland) Act rose to this challenge must be assessed in terms of the operation and outcomes of the system since enactment.

Centralisation has increased in a manner which has disempowered local government and eroded the essential relationship between councillors and those who elect them. Development plans are little more than the mechanism for rubber stamping and consenting development on sites that have been selected by developers.

Outcomes are poor, as is immediately evident here in East Lothian and in other parts of the country. Communities see inappropriately located development of poor quality appearing without any input from planning authorities which should be acting in the public interest.

There is more than a hint of history repeating itself in the current round of reform. I would suggest that the recently introduced Bill should be judged in terms of its potential to address and correct the characteristics identified in the previous paragraph.

It is clear, as you report, that many do not believe this to be likely.

The absence in both rounds of reform of an open discussion about the role of the planning function in contemporary society as an essential precursor of legislation and regulation, is a root cause of the lack of coherence in both the 2006 and 2015 reforms.

It was always unlikely that a format for planning dating from the 1947 Act would be appropriate for conditions 70 years later.

Station Road Haddington, East Lothian