Events

Edinburgh Planning Concordat - The City of Edinburgh Council and Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce

Planning for business award commendation 2011

Summary

The Edinburgh Planning Concordat is a joint statement of commitments agreed between representatives of the cities development sector and the planning authority. It makes a significant contribution to culture change in the modernised planning system in Scotland.

Background

The concordat is the outcome of a process undertaken jointly by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and the City of Edinburgh Councils Planning Service, under direction from the Edinburgh Development Forum. It represents the conclusion to two years of discussions centred upon the culture change challenges identified as part of the national planning modernisation programme in Scotland. Following the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 the Scottish Government encouraged stakeholders to deliver reform through shared objectives and joint actions to bring about culture change.

Project description

The Edinburgh Planning Concordat is a joint statement of commitments agreed between representatives of the cities development sector and the planning authority. The concordat establishes a step by step process for managing major development proposals in a manner which is transparent and clarifies expectations and responsibilities for the applicant, the planning authority and the wider community. It aims to deliver joint action on resources, skills and processes when such proposals are being assessed.

The planning authority pledges to give early advice and guidance and to assess proposals in mutually agreed timescales. The concordat seeks to ensure that appropriate knowledge and skills are applied to the assessment of proposals, with the planning authority co-ordinating inputs across different Council services in a one-door approach for the developer. The process also reflects a project management approach of planning process agreements. Points of contact are defined, planning arrangements and timescales are clarified. The developer agrees to engage as early and as fully as possible so that all stakeholders can understand the proposals and their implications. The principle of no surprises underlines the concordat.

Planning achievement

The aim is to improve working relationships between the development sector and the planning authority in order to facilitate economic development. The intention is not to weaken the consideration any matters that are material to planning decisions, but to make the process more efficient, to create a climate of greater certainty for the developer and greater awareness on the part of other stakeholders;
Early monitoring of the concordat suggests an increased willingness by developers to engage early in the development of their proposals and then to sign planning process agreements;
The transparency and requirement for early engagement brought about by the process also improve the wider communities understanding of and involvement in decisions on major development proposals;
With its cooperative, informed, managed and transparent approach to the processing of major development proposals the Edinburgh Planning Concordat makes a significant contribution to culture change in the modernised planning system in Scotland.