Major Developments

Public Consultation and Engagement

Proposal of Application Notice

Legislation for major and national scale planning applications requires applicants to submit a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) outlining pre-application public engagement proposals.

This notice must be submitted by the prospective applicant at least 12 weeks prior to submission of an application for planning permission. The notice must contain the following:

A description, in general terms, of the development to be carried out
If the site of the proposed development has a postal address, that address
A plan showing the outline of the site, sufficient to identify the site
Detail as to how the prospective applicant may be contacted and corresponded with
Who the applicant has served the notice on
An account of what consultation the prospective applicant proposes to undertake, when such consultation is to take place and what form it will take. This must include two public events no closer than 14 days apart.

A planning application for this proposed development cannot be submitted less than 12 weeks from the date the Proposal of Application Notice is received by the Council and without the statutory consultation requirements having been undertaken.

The Proposal of Application Notice will be valid for a period of 18 months from the date of validation of the notice by the Council.

Statutory Public Consultation

The following approach to consultation is required under the provision of the Town and Country Planning (Pre-Application Consultations (Scotland) Regulations 2019 which came into force on 01 October 2022:

A minimum of two public events must be held for members of the public to make comments to the prospective applicant on their proposals before the proposal is finalised.
Newspaper notice to be published in advance of the first and second event in a local newspaper circulating in the locality in which the proposed development is situated at least 7 days of this event
The information which the public can obtain requires to be available electronically as well as in physical format. The current list of content of a newspaper notice will require that prospective applicants to indicate how (including by electronic means) information can be obtained on the proposals.
A minimum of 14 days between the first and final event needs to be considered.
The prospective applicant must at the final public event provide feedback to members of the public in respect of comments received by the prospective applicant as regards the proposed development

Additional Consultation Requirements

In addition to the statutory consultation the Council will also require the following consultation methods to be used for all major and national scale development:

Provision of a website hosting all of the information which would be available to members of the public in an "in-person" engagement event
Provide electronic means of feedback on the proposed development
Provision of telephone contact details where those who are unable to access the events in person or visit the website can find out more about the proposal and provide feedback
Undertake a letter drop to all properties within vicinity of the site to provide information on the proposed development, raise awareness of the virtual event, and provide an opportunity for feedback on the proposal. For the letter drop we recommend properties in the following proximities to:
Within settlement development areas identified within the Local Development Plan - notify all properties within 500m of the boundary of the proposed development
Outwith settlement development areas identified within the Local Development Plan - notify all properties within 2.5km of the boundary of the proposed development
For Wind Farms - notify all properties within 10km of the site where there will be theoretical visibility of the wind farm

Advertising a Pre-Application Consultation Event

Both the first and second consultation event require to be advertised in a local newspaper circulating in the locality in which the proposed development is situated at least 7 days of this event. The advertisement must include:

A description of the proposed development
Details as to where further information may be obtained concerning the proposed development
The date and place of the public event
A statement explaining how and by when persons wishing to make comments may do so
A statement that comments made to the prospective applicant are not representations to the Council and if the prospective applicant submits a planning application there will be an opportunity to make representations on that application to the Council

If you are unsure of which newspaper in which you should advertise your pre-application consultation events please contact us for advice.

Pre-Application Consultation Report

The Town and Country Planning (Pre-Application Consultations) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 set out the information which must be contained within a Pre-Application Consultation Report. This includes:

Dates on which, and places where, public events were held
Details of any additional consultation or notification required by the Council
Details of any additional steps taken by the applicant to consult with members of the public
A list of bodies, groups and organisations who were consulted by the applicant
Copies of any materials sent to consultees
Copies of any materials provided to those attending a public event
Copies of any visual presentation shown or displayed at a public event
Photographs of any display boards or models at public events
Confirmation that consultees and attendees at public events were advised that pre-application consultation does not remove the right or the potential need to comment on the final application once it is made to the planning authority
A summary of the written responses to consultations and views raised at public events
An indication of the number of written responses received and the number of persons who attended the public events
An explanation of how the applicant took account of views raised during the pre-application consultation process, and
An explanation of how members of the public were given feedback on the applicant's consideration of the views raised during the pre-application consultation process