Spring has definitely been in the air recently, bringing sunshine, a fresh spring breeze, and lots of exciting activity in the renewable energy sector, as well as some important developments for the planning system in Scotland. On which and more, read on below…
Planning – 2025 priorities: Ministerial and Chief Planner letter – January 2025 – at the end of January, the Scottish Government issued its latest letter from the Minister of Public Finance and Chief Planner on priorities for planning in 2025. The letter encourages all planning authorities to positively facilitate development and investment in their areas and highlights the Government’s focus on: identifying and addressing housing sites which have stalled (through both site specific and more strategic interventions); improving planning authority resource and capacity (including reiterating the expectation that the recent increase in planning fees will be reinvested in planning services); the application of National Planning Framework 4 Policy 22 Flood risk and water management (with details on that to be advised in due course); guidance and advice on Battery Energy Storage Systems (with further information again to be provided in due course); and progress with digital planning. These are all important in ensuring that the planning system is able to support the Government in terms of addressing the housing emergency and the transition to net zero, and so we are looking forward to further information being shared in the near future.
Masterplan Consent Areas: guidance – with Regulations for making Master Plan Consent Area (MCA) schemes having come into force at the end of last year (as noted in our December 2024 bulletin, which also gives more details of what the Regulations cover), January of this year saw the Scottish Government publish Masterplan Consent Areas: guidance to help planning authorities prepare these. This includes details of the anticipated benefits of MCAs and where the Scottish Government sees potential for these to be used, as well as step-by-step guidance on the process to follow in preparing one. This makes interesting reading for anyone looking to find out more about MCAs in general, as well as local authorities looking for specific guidance on the preparation process.
National Planning Skills Commitment Plan – we have previously reported on the shortage of planners and, in January this year, the RTPI highlighted the results of a survey of local planning authorities which found that 91% of them had some difficulty recruiting staff, whilst 97% had planning skills gaps. We were therefore pleased to see that, this month, the Scottish Government launched its National Planning Skills Commitment Plan, implementing an action identified in the Planning and Housing Emergency – Delivery Plan (for details on which see our December 2024 bulletin). The Plan aims to attract more people into the profession by providing training and skills development through monthly themed webinars, hands-on learning and recruitment support. A schedule of activities covering a wide range of topics and delivered by a number of partners is available here and will be updated monthly, and is definitely worth a look. Applications for bursaries also go live at the end of this month, so look out for that.
Realising Scotland’s hydrogen potential – having looked at the publication of the Scottish Government’s first hydrogen sector export plan in our December 2024 bulletin, we were interested to see this closely followed in January this year by the high profile approval, on appeal, of a green hydrogen production facility, despite this resulting in the loss of some 27.02 hectares of peatland, and proposed restoration works falling short of the level sought by NatureScot. This was though considered to be outweighed by the contribution that the proposal would make to the generation of renewable energy and tackling the challenge of climate change, described as a greater threat to biodiversity than the loss of peatland. The full decision is available here, along with associated documents.
Community benefits consultation – our December 2024 bulletin also included details of the Scottish Government’s consultation on ways to improve how communities receive additional benefits from renewable energy developments, such as funding, in-kind works, support for local projects or a reduction in energy bills. Now, we are reaching the end of the consultation period, with the deadline for responding being 11 April 2025, and we would encourage anyone who has not already done so to contribute views by then.
Proposals to streamline the planning system for major energy projects – this month, the UK Government has published its response to proposals to streamline the Scottish planning system for large energy projects, the details of which were set out in our December 2024 bulletin. Given that the proposals reflect similar changes introduced previously in England and Wales, it is perhaps not too surprising that the response confirms an intention to proceed with these. And while some proposals are subject to amendments, the package of reforms being taken forward is otherwise broadly as set out in the consultation document (including: changes to pre-application requirements; application information requirements; application input from statutory consultees; processes for amendments to applications; the examination process when a relevant planning authority raises an objection to an application; processes for variations of consents; fees for pre-application activities and necessary wayleaves processing; and the process for challenging a consenting decision). There is also no time being wasted in doing this, with required legislative changes being progressed through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, introduced into the House of Commons on the same day as the response was published.
Energy policy elsewhere in the UK – in our December 2024 bulletin we also looked at recently introduced changes to the English National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the driver behind which was to provide more support for onshore wind and renewables developments, albeit the adopted amendments did not provide the same level of support as many in the renewable energy sector had hoped for. This notwithstanding, since the revised NPPF was published at the end of last year, a number of appeal decisions have been issued in which the additional support this does provide for renewable energy related developments has been used to justify approving applications that had initially been refused at planning authority level. These include:
• appeal reference APP/Q4245/W/24/33/54822, in terms of which planning permission was granted for a battery energy storage system on green belt land in the Greater Manchester area after the Inspector noted the strong strategic policy framework for development of this nature;
• appeal reference APP/W3520/W/24/3345132, in terms of which planning permission was granted for a solar farm in the Suffolk countryside despite being found to harm a range of listed buildings, on the basis that this would be outweighed by its contribution to national decarbonisation targets; and
• appeal reference APP/Y2430/W/24/3340258, in terms of which planning permission was granted for a solar farm in the Leicestershire countryside despite being found to cause harm to the landscape, with the decision acknowledging the expectation for a five-fold increase in solar deployment by 2035.
Overall, these indicate that the changes are giving climate adaption and mitigation a more central role in planning decision making, as was intended, at least on appeal. However, it is of course early days, and it remains to be seen whether this translates to a more positive approach being taken to renewable energy developments by planning authorities overall.
North Sea fossil fuel consents – following the UK Supreme Court’s decision in R (on the application of Finch) v Surrey County Council [2024] UKSC 20 (in which, as set out in our June 2024 bulletin, it was held that the indirect environmental effects of downstream greenhouse gas emissions arising from the ultimate combustion of oil needed to be taken into account when assessing the effects of extracting it in the first place), we are starting to see the implications of this in practice in Scotland, with the same approach being applied here. Specifically, in January this year, the Court of Session ruled that consents for two Scottish oil and gas fields (the Rosebank oil and gas field and the Jackdaw gas field) were granted unlawfully as a result of downstream emissions not having been taken into account when doing so. In making that judgement, the Court confirmed that the law as set out in the Finch decision also applies to consents granted before that decision was issued, although works on both fields can continue for now, with this just meaning that no oil or gas can be extracted unless new consents for these are granted. It also seems that this may be a case of those who raised the legal challenges having won the battle but not the war, with it having since been reported that Treasury sources have indicated that a new application to extract oil at Rosebank is likely to be supported, and it also being possible for the decision to be appealed.
On us – this quarter saw us mark two years since we made the decision to focus on our core sectors of renewable energy infrastructure and emerging technology related developments, and other projects that deliver community and social benefits, and those have continued to keep us busy. In particular, we currently have a number of applications for renewable energy projects pending determination, and we are hoping to get planning permission for a new sports pitch for Banchory Community Football Club next month, and we are delighted to be playing a role in the delivery of projects such as these.
Thanks for reading!
Pippa and Maggie
