Planning permission

eDevelopment is the Scottish service that enables users to apply online for planning permission, building warrants, appeals, and a range of other forms, to their local and planning authority.

Before you can use the ePlanning or eBuilding Standards sites to manage applications or submissions, you must first create a user account from the home page of eDevelopment.scot. Creating an account gives you access to both the eBuildingStandards.scot and ePlanning.scot services. Create an account or Login to your existing account.

For further information on how to submit applications on the portal, please follow the eDevelopment.scot support page
Drawing and Information will be required upon submission - please use our application checklists to check you have included all relevant information.

Apply for planning permission

If you are unfamiliar with the planning system you may find it usual to visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) webpage prior to submitting your application. The page contains the most asked questions and links to more detailed information.

We are currently experiencing extremely high levels of submissions of planning applications, planning condition compliance information, and enquiries about proposed developments. Given this volume of activity for our services, it's taking longer for case officers to respond. Your case officer will contact you once they have assessed your application. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Submitting additional information

If you have additional information you would like to provide in connection with an application already submitted, you can submit follow up documentation to us electronically using ePlanning.scot portal.

When submitting further information, please select Post Submission Additional Documents (PSAD) option. (Further guidance can be found on the eDevelopment.scot support page).

This should be used to submit the following:

Planning Application additional documents
Notice of Review Application additional documents
Appeal a Refusal or other decision additional documents
Appeal a Notice additional documents
Request for Variation to a planning application
Development Enquiry additional documents
Pre-application Advice additional documents
Applications that were submitted by a different agent/applicant

If the original application could not be made using ePlanning.scot, you can still use the PSAD online form on the ePlanning.scot Portal to submit follow up documents. Ensure you include your planning application reference number.

When submitting additional information make sure:

The original application reference number is provided on any documents you send
A scale bar is included on all plans
Plans are correctly named, for example, "elevation", "site plan", "floor plan"
Revised plans should use the original description and be correctly titled as such, drawing number followed by 'Rev A/B/C as appropriate'and include a date of the revision
The date you send any additional information should be clearly marked on plans

If you need to send us additional or supporting documentation but are unable to submit through the ePlanning.scot portal, post your documents to ePlanning, eProcessing centre, The Highland Council, Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX for processing.

We do not accept paper application submissions at our area offices or service points.

Major developments

All major developments are required to submit a proposal of application notice at least 12 weeks before submitting a planning application. This will require a Proposal of application form to be completed and to follow the check-list for the proposal of application notice.

Further information can be found on the following Major Developments webpage.

Section 42 applications

Section 42 applications can also be submitted through ePlanning.scot Portal by following the below steps

Select ' Planning Permission' form from the 'list of standards form'.
Then select 'Further Application' in the 'Type of Application' section.

Section 50 Certificate

To apply for a planning certificate for Premises Licence, visit our Planning (Section 50) certificates webpage.

To find out if you need planning permission or a building warrant, use our Development Enquiry service.

We also offer a Pre-application Advice Service where you can receive advice and information on your development proposal. There is a fee to use our Development Enquiry and Pre-application Advice Service. More information can be found on our Planning and building standards fees page.

A list and description of the different types of permission can be found on our guide to types of planning permission page.
To help you find out what permissions you may need, visit our planning guidance and advice pages.
Before you submit a planning application, please check if a financial payment may be required towards service and infrastructure provision, further information can be found on our Developer Contributions page.
All applications for new marine fish farms or alterations to existing marine fish farms require planning permission. Advice and application forms can be found on our Aquaculture and marine fish-farming webpage.
If you require to serve notice on The Highland Council as landowner to which a planning application relates, visit our checklists page for details.
Find out if your development proposal requires a Road Construction Consent.
For more information on how to register a new address for a residential, commercial or industrial development, visit our Street names and house numbers page.

Paper Applications

We prefer you to submit your application or appeal electronically using the eDevelopment.scot site. If you need a paper application, these forms can be downloaded and printed from the ePlanning.scot webpage using the link below. These can also be completed electronically through the ePlanning.scot portal.

DOWNLOAD A PAPER APPLICATION FORM

The following cannot be submitted via the ePlanning portal but can be downloaded and posted to: ePlanning, eProcessing centre, The Highland Council, Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX.

We do not accept paper application submissions at our area offices or service points. This also applies to additional or supporting documentation you may need to send to us in relation to existing planning applications.

Technical Support

If you have any technical difficulties when using:

ePlanning (ePlanning.scot)
eBuilding Standards (eBuildingStandards.scot)
The Highland Council Public Access Site (http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/)

Let us know

To help resolve the problem, please include:

Screenshots of the issue (desirable) - paste into a word document and attach to the online form as they help us to resolve issues more quickly
A description of what you were trying to do on our site when the issue occurred (essential)
Date and time the issue occurred (essential)