Scotland: the infrastructure levy power and its status

This article is about Scotland. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 gives Scottish Ministers power to introduce an infrastructure levy by regulations, and that power has never been exercised. As at October 2026, no infrastructure levy operates in Scotland and developer contributions are still secured through planning obligations under section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Budget on that basis, and check the current position on legislation.gov.uk before relying on any of this, because the enabling power is time-limited and the Scottish Government's intentions have moved more than once.

That is the practical answer. The longer answer matters for anyone appraising a Scottish site with a long programme, because the shape of the power tells you what a levy would look like if it ever arrives, and the gap between the power and the regulations is where the risk sits.

What the enabling power allows

The 2019 Act creates a framework rather than a levy. It allows regulations to impose a charge on development, to set who is liable and when, to provide for how the money is spent on infrastructure, and to deal with collection, enforcement and appeals.

Several features follow from that structure. A levy would be set out in secondary legislation, so the detail would be consulted on separately from the Act. It would sit alongside, rather than replace, the existing obligations regime unless the regulations said otherwise. And it would require charging authorities to produce and examine charging documents, which is itself a multi-year exercise for 34 planning authorities.

The Act also limits the period within which the regulations may be made. Check whether that period has been extended, because the answer determines whether the power is still live at all.

The current status and the as at position

As at October 2026, the position as published is this. The power exists in the 2019 Act. No regulations have been made under it. No charging schedules exist. Nothing is payable.

So when an appraisal or a land promotion document refers to a Scottish infrastructure levy, treat it as a policy possibility rather than a cost line. If someone has put a figure in a residual valuation for it, ask where the figure came from.

I would be cautious about predicting what happens next. The reform has been through consultation, a pandemic, a change of ministerial priorities and the publication of National Planning Framework 4, and at each stage the timetable moved. The honest answer is that nobody can tell you when or whether a levy will arrive, which is exactly why the as at date on any note about it matters.

How it would sit alongside obligations

Section 75 agreements remain the mechanism, and they are not going away whatever happens to the levy. They secure affordable housing, education and transport contributions, open space, and the restrictions that make a development acceptable in planning terms.

Circular guidance on planning obligations in Scotland sets out the tests for obligations and the expectation that they are necessary, related to the development and reasonable in scale. Those tests are what an appeal against a refusal to modify an obligation turns on.

National Planning Framework 4 forms part of the development plan and its infrastructure-first policy expects the infrastructure implications of development to be addressed from the outset. In practice that has shifted more weight onto obligations, not less, because the policy expectation arrives without a levy to fund it.

Lessons from the English experience

England has run a levy alongside obligations since 2010 and the experience is instructive, which is why Scottish practitioners should pay attention to it even though the regime does not apply.

Three lessons stand out. A fixed charge per square metre is simple to administer and blunt where viability varies across an authority, so charging schedules end up with zones and exemptions that reintroduce complexity. Reliefs and exemptions create procedural traps, since missing a claim before development begins loses the relief permanently. And a levy does not remove the need for obligations, because site-specific infrastructure and affordable housing still have to be secured by agreement.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 took powers in England for a replacement levy, and those powers have not been brought into general operation. Check the current position before describing it to a client. The pattern of a power taken and not exercised is now familiar on both sides of the border.

What developers should plan for

For a Scottish site being appraised now:

1. Price section 75 contributions from the authority's own published guidance and from recent concluded agreements on comparable schemes
2. Assume no levy liability unless regulations have been made and a charging document is in place for that authority
3. Build the obligation negotiation into the programme, because concluding an agreement is often the longest item after determination
4. Where a scheme has a long build programme, consider how a future levy would interact with permissions already granted, and raise it with your solicitor when the agreement is drafted
5. Keep the infrastructure case documented, since infrastructure-first policy expects it

A Viability Assessment for a Scottish scheme should state the contributions assumptions explicitly, with their source, rather than carrying an unexplained allowance. Councils usually expect a suitably qualified author for that document and professional review is strongly advised.

Note that PlanScope's drafting is grounded in English national policy and English local plans, so a Scottish application needs National Planning Framework 4, the local development plan and Scottish procedure checked by your reviewer before submission.

Monitoring the reform

Watch three places. Legislation on legislation.gov.uk will show any regulations made under the 2019 Act power, which is the only thing that creates a liability. Scottish Government consultation and policy publications will signal intent before that. And individual authorities' development plan and contributions guidance will show how obligations policy is tightening in the meantime.

Local place plans have given communities a route into plan-making that often raises infrastructure expectations, and the note on local place plans in Scotland explains how they work. The development hierarchy also determines how an application is processed and who decides it, which is set out in the hierarchy of developments in Scotland.

Practical advice now

Do not reserve for a levy that does not exist. Do reserve properly for obligations, which are real, negotiated and often larger than appraisals assume.

Ask the authority early what its expectations are for affordable housing, education and transport on a scheme of your type, and ask for the evidence behind them. In Scotland, as in England, the contributions conversation is won with published policy and comparable agreements rather than with argument.

And keep a dated note in the project file recording the levy position as at the date of your appraisal. When the scheme is reviewed in two years, that note is what tells the reviewer whether the assumption needs rechecking. Applications notified to Scottish Ministers follow a separate track again, as set out in notification of planning applications to Scottish Ministers.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your 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.