Planning permission in principle in Scotland

Planning permission in principle in Scotland is the Scottish equivalent of an outline permission, and the differences from the English system are large enough that the English vocabulary will mislead you. There are no reserved matters in Scotland. What follows a grant of planning permission in principle is an application for approval of matters specified in conditions, and the time limits attached to the two stages run differently from the English three year rule. The framework sits in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended, and the development plan you are assessed against is National Planning Framework 4 together with the local development plan.

This article covers Scotland only. The policy tests, the forms, the fees and the appeal routes are all different from the English position.

What permission in principle establishes

Permission in principle settles that development of the described type is acceptable at the location. It does not settle the layout, the appearance, the landscaping, the access design or the drainage, and it cannot be built from.

Its usefulness is in what it removes from the argument. Once the principle is granted, the question of whether a house belongs on that plot at all is closed, subject to the conditions attached. For a self-builder buying a field-edge plot, or a landowner selling one, that is the answer that carries value.

Two limits are worth being clear about at the start. Conditions attached to the permission in principle can be onerous and they bind the later application, so read them before treating the consent as a win. And the planning authority can refuse the later application on the detail, which means permission in principle is not a promise of a house, only of a house in that place.

Information needed at application stage

The application has to describe the development and identify the site, with a location plan and the certificates and notices the regulations require. Beyond that the authority can and will ask for more where it needs it to assess the principle.

In practice a submission that succeeds usually includes five things:

1. A site plan showing the red line boundary, existing access and the relationship to neighbouring property.
2. A short statement of the development proposed, including maximum numbers, storeys and use.
3. An indicative layout or a development framework, marked as indicative, where the site is large enough for layout to affect the principle.
4. Evidence on the constraints the authority will raise: flood risk, foul drainage capacity, access visibility, protected species and trees.
5. A policy assessment against National Planning Framework 4 and the local development plan.

Including an indicative layout is a judgement call. It helps where the authority needs reassurance that the site can accommodate the numbers. It hurts where an early layout invites objections on detail you have not yet designed. A short Planning Statement setting out the policy case is the document that carries the principle, and a Design and Access Statement is required for certain categories of application in Scotland, so check whether yours is one.

Approval of matters specified in conditions

The second stage is an application for approval of matters specified in conditions, made under section 59 of the 1997 Act. The conditions attached to the permission in principle list the matters that have been left over, and the later application deals with them.

The scope is limited to those matters. An authority cannot use the second application to reopen whether the development should happen, and an applicant cannot use it to change the description of the development. Where the detail that emerges is materially different from what was granted in principle, a fresh application is the honest route.

More than one application can be made, which allows a phased scheme to bring forward detail in sections. Each carries its own fee.

Time limits and how they run

The timing is the part most often got wrong by people applying English habits.

• An application for approval of matters specified in conditions must be made within three years of the grant of permission in principle, or the permission lapses.
• Development must then begin within two years of the final approval of the last such matter, or within five years of the grant of permission in principle, whichever is later.

Those periods can be varied by condition, so read the decision notice rather than relying on the default. The practical effect is that a permission in principle obtained and then left alone for four years is worthless, while one followed promptly by a detailed approval can carry a longer runway than an English outline permission would.

Where the route saves money and where it does not

It saves money where the principle is the risk. A rural plot outside a settlement boundary, an infill gap in a village, a change of use of a field: in each case a refusal on principle would make design fees wasted expenditure, and testing the principle first is the rational sequence.

It costs money where the principle is not in doubt. On an allocated site with a clear policy position, two applications with two fees and two determination periods take longer and cost more than one detailed application. Scottish planning fees are set in regulations and revised periodically, so take the current figures from the fee schedule rather than from an older article.

The other hidden cost is the evidence you cannot defer. Protected species surveys, a Flood Risk Assessment prepared against the Scottish flood maps, and drainage capacity enquiries usually have to be done before the principle can be granted, because they bear on whether development is acceptable at all. Survey seasons in Scotland are short, and a bat or breeding bird constraint discovered in October delays the principle until the following summer.

Neighbour notification requirements

Since the 2009 reforms the planning authority carries out neighbour notification in Scotland, not the applicant. Notification goes to premises within 20 metres of the boundary of the application site, and the authority also publishes the application.

That changes the applicant's job. In England an applicant may be serving notice on owners and agricultural tenants themselves. In Scotland the ownership certificates still have to be completed correctly, and getting them wrong is a validation problem, while the physical notification is the authority's work.

For national and major developments there is an additional duty. Pre-application consultation is required before the application is submitted, including a public event and a period of at least twelve weeks between the notice of the proposal and the application itself. Skipping it invalidates the application.

Moving from principle to a detailed consent

Four things make the second stage go smoothly.

Read the conditions on the permission in principle and list every matter reserved, then design to each one explicitly. Officers check that list.

Keep the development within the parameters granted. Extra units, extra storeys or a different access point take you outside the permission and into a fresh application.

Deal with the technical conditions in parallel rather than in sequence. Drainage, access and ecology conditions often need consultee input that takes as long as the application itself.

And diary both time limits from the date on the decision notice. The most common way a Scottish permission in principle is lost is not refusal, it is a missed three year deadline.

Appeal routes differ too. Decisions taken under delegated powers on local developments go to the authority's local review body, and other decisions are appealed to the Scottish Ministers through the planning and environmental appeals division. Both have their own time limits, which run from the date of the decision notice.

Browse all 66 report types on PlanScope and start a draft, remembering that a Scottish application needs the reviewer to check National Planning Framework 4 and the local development plan rather than English policy.

This article is general guidance about the Scottish planning system, not legal advice. Fees, procedures and policy change, so check the current position with the planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.