Investing in Planning: a consultation on resourcing Scotland’s planning system

Feedback updated 28 Aug 2024

We asked

The public consultation sought views on a range of proposals to support improvement in the delivery of planning services, including smarter ways of working, getting more people to consider a career in planning and alternative approaches to financing.

You said

140 responses were received from a wide range of stakeholders, of which 113 were from groups or organisations and 27 were from individual members of the public.

We did

View a summary of responses to the consultation.

Where permission to publish has been provided, the consultation responses are now available to view online.

We are currently considering the responses to the consultation and will provide an update on next steps when the Scottish Parliament returns after recess.

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

The consultation recognises that there are no simple answers to the challenge of resourcing planning. We live in financially constrained times and even if money was to be found, there is a complex set of circumstances to address.

The consultation explores a range of solutions to support resourcing of the planning system. It sets out options which have the potential to improve the capacity of the Scottish planning system, in particular in planning authorities, in the coming years. It responds to current and future challenges, with a view to identifying a set of short and medium term actions that could improve the capacity of the planning system by helping build resilience and strengthening cross sector collaboration.

We are keen to hear stakeholders views on the proposals and encourage you all to submit your thoughts on our proposals and anything else you think should be considered.

Read the consultation paper and impact assessments. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.

Useful information about responding to this consultation Useful information about responding to this consultation

As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.

Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.

On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.

After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.

A analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. You can also join our consulation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).

Why your views matter