U-turn urged on planning appeals

By Peter MacRae
Producer of The Investigation

Community campaigners hope ministers will be forced to change their minds and allow a right of appeal when the Planning Reform Bill goes before MSPs.

But a senior development figure in the Republic of Ireland, which has had the appeal rights for more than 40 years, is urging Scotland not to follow suit.

The white paper does not include a third party appeal option

This month's edition of BBC Radio Scotland's The Investigation series with Ken Macdonald examines the Scottish Executive's proposals for reforming the planning system.

It is expected that the bill will be introduced to Holyrood before Christmas.

There is widespread criticism of the existing planning system based on council local structure plans which are often 10 years out of date. Applications are assessed against these, frequently out of date, structure plans.

The business community sees the present system as cumbersome and too often prone to delays and challenges which push up costs.

Community and environmental groups feel the odds are stacked against them. Their first opportunity to get involved in the planning process is once the application has been lodged and they feel this is too late to influence the outcome.

A lack of voting and financial powers to make any changes for ourselves mean we bear a disproportionate burden of the waste for the whole of Scotland Anne Coleman Greengairs campaigner

One community which feels it has suffered the worst aspects of the planning system for decades is Greengairs in Lanarkshire.

Whereas Scotland has many breathtaking sights, Greengairs is a place where often you dare not take a breath, such is the stench from all of the landfill sites.

Community campaigner Anne Coleman said: "A lack of voting and financial powers to make any changes for ourselves mean we bear a disproportionate burden of the waste for the whole of Scotland."

The executive's reform proposals place an emphasis on developing Scotland's economy, by creating a national planning framework.

Councils' local plans must be in line with this framework and kept up to date. It is intended that this will lead to quicker decisions on planning applications.

Another key aspect of the reforms is the encouragement of developers to consult with communities much earlier in the planning process, even before an application has been submitted.

Councils will also be encouraged to involve communities more closely in planning.

Overwhelming result

Community representatives went to Holyrood recently to tell MSPs that being consulted by developers is all well and good, but what they really want is a right of appeal in the planning system.

It is a feature of a number of other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, and is known as third party right of appeal (TPRA). The person submitting the planning application is the first party and the council is the second.

Despite the overwhelming result in favour of TPRA in the executive's consultation exercise, the planning white paper does not include any right for communities, or other objectors, to appeal planning decisions.

However, the SNP and Greens will attempt to reintroduce a limited form of TPRA into the reform bill when it goes before Holyrood soon.

No TPRA is good news for the business community. Iain MacMillan of CBI Scotland said it would be very damaging to our economy.

Not everyone in Dublin is happy with the Irish system

He said: "It's not going to happen south of the border and there is a serious risk that companies look at the prospects for expansion and development and decide they've had enough of Scotland.

"Places like Leeds, Bradford or Birmingham are offering us good incentives to go there, let's just go and do it."

But groups with a lot of experience of the planning system are dismayed.

Duncan MacLaren, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "The great benefit of TPRA is that it's a dynamic thing. When you give communities the chance to appeal at the end of the planning process, if things have gone badly wrong, then you create an incentive which works on both the developer and the council throughout the whole process to make sure things go right."

Ireland has had TPRA for more than 40 years and is frequently referred to by campaigners in Scotland who are seeking similar appeal rights.

Ian Lumley works for the Irish equivalent of the National Trust. He said: "In Ireland it's regarded as a matter of equity. The landowner or developer has an automatic right of appeal as they do in Scotland. So in order to introduce balance, the third party also has an appeal right."

Ireland has huge infrastructure deficits such as lack of landfill sites to handle demolition waste from redevelopment projects Martin Whelan Irish construction industry

And in his experience most of the third party appeals do come from people who have a direct interest in the proposed development. It is also a cheaper and more effective way of resolving planning disputes without having to go to court.

TPRA campaigners point to Ireland again when business people here say such appeal rights would damage Scotland's economy. Look at Ireland's booming growth rate, they say. TPRA doesn't appear to be holding Ireland back.

But a senior figure in the redevelopment of the Dublin area believes TPRA is strangling the very basis on which the "Celtic Tiger" emerged.

Martin Whelan, of the Construction Industry Federation, warns that if Scotland goes down the road of introducing TPRA, based on the Irish experience, it will cause more difficulties than benefits.

He said: "Ireland has huge infrastructure deficits such as lack of landfill sites to handle demolition waste from redevelopment projects.

"TPRA has been used on every occasion to scupper attempts to introduce incineration or recycling facilities to address these problems.

"As a result Ireland's economy has to bear extra costs to export our waste which affects our competitiveness."

You can hear this month's edition of The Investigation with Ken Macdonald and Gary Robertson on BBC Radio Scotland at 0905 GMT on Monday.