Education and careers

RTPI Learning Partner Profile - City of Edinburgh Council

The Planning Service is part of City Development Department of the City of Edinburgh Council. The Planning and Strategy Service is charged with setting the vision for the physical development of the city and managing current developments through the statutory planning service. It is also responsible for a range of departmental management services and for some Council-wide data and information management tasks.

The Planning Service has recently undergone a re-structure which addresses the needs of the new Planning Act and the Council’s own corporate improvement programme. There are two groups within the service:

Development Managementprocess planning applications, carry out planning enforcement duties and give advice to developers and the community. It handles one of the largest casework loads of any local planning authority in the UK with around 5,500 planning applications and 750 enforcement cases per year.

Development Planningprovide the Council with planning policy services. These include preparing, implementing, monitoring and reviewing the statutory guidance for developers It also provides specialist advice on conservation, design, landscape, natural heritage, biodiversity and urban forestry, as well as a planning and research information service.