Scotland’s public finance minister, Ivan McKee, has faced criticism as he committed to reforms in the planning system to ensure it plays a crucial role in addressing the nation’s housing crisis.
McKee revealed the creation of a specialist hub aimed at accelerating the delivery of homes approved for planning.
This hub, expected to launch in early 2025, is being funded and staffed by the Scottish Government.
Additionally, McKee committed to increasing the number of scholarships for post-graduate students interested in planning studies by threefold and stated that a comprehensive training program for local councillors involved in planning decisions is in the works.
He took these steps following his admission of concern over the prolonged approval process for development projects.
However, in a statement to the Scottish Parliament, McKee emphasised that “planning is not the only, or even the most significant, reason for the challenges we are facing in housing”.
He said that “across Scotland, we estimate that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission, but have not yet been built”, adding: “In the Glasgow and Edinburgh city regions alone, planning permission has been granted for 121,000 homes that have not yet been built. – of these, around 38,000 units have been started, but are not yet complete.”
Stating that what was needed was “action to turn those permissions into homes”, McKee claimed that making progress on the number of “stalled” planning applications would be an “absolute priority” for the Scottish Government.
owever, following McKee’s statement that measures had been implemented to allow councils to raise planning fees, thereby able to “recoup more of the costs”, Meghan Gallacher, a spokesperson for the Conservative party in housing, expressed concerns that this might discourage developers.
Gallacher said: “I was hoping for some ground-breaking planning legislation to build more homes, a plan to fix the challenges we are facing right across our housing sector.
“Yet we have been left with another hub, and an increase in planning application costs that will deter future housing developments.”
