We’re at the very early stages of putting together our next local development plan City Plan 2040.
There is still time to submit your proposals and ideas to help frame the vision, policies and proposals for the Proposed Plan.
Your ideas should focus on the use and development of land and buildings across Edinburgh – this could be proposals for an area of land, site or building, something you want to protect or improve or planning policies you want to change.
You can submit your suggestions via the Council’s Consultation Hub. You can also find out more and what information is required to submit a proposal or idea.
The consultation is open until 30 September 2026 and every idea will be considered.
This is a very special time to welcome International Biodiversity Day 2025, as Edinburgh celebrates a very important biodiversity anniversary this year. There is a long history of partnership working for biodiversity in the city and this year marks 25 years of the Edinburgh Biodiversity Partnership.
May is a great month to celebrate biodiversity and enjoy spending time in nature, and Edinburgh has some very special places to see nature – all year round!
We are really fortunate to have some amazing wildlife across our city, and this includes fantastic species like otters who have returned to our rivers and burns in recent years.
This month sees the return of Swifts, a bird which comes here just to breed and relies entirely on buildings for nesting sites. However, the nature crisis is well documented and there continue to be declines across all species groups globally and in Scotland. This is due to habitat loss, poor habitat management, pollution, invasive species and disease. Extreme weather caused by our changing climate can also have a negative impact through droughts and flooding. Climate change also makes some of the other threats worse, such as the spread of pests and diseases.
Tackling these challenges and supporting the recovery of nature requires a step change in land use planning and embedding positive effects for biodiversity into new developments.
Integrating nature at the design stage and creating nature positive places is good for health and wellbeing as well as biodiversity. It also supports resilience in the built environment to the impacts of climate change from overheating and extreme rainfall.
Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas – Guidance to support works to a listed building or within a conservation area. This is to make sure we look after our historic buildings and places.
Guidance for Householders – Guidance for development undertaken by individual householders. This includes work to existing houses and gardens.
You can view the draft-for-consultation documents here:
Our consultation is now open for draft planning guidance for purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) in Edinburgh.
The draft guidance has been prepared to support City Plan 2030 policy dealing with PBSA. It sets out the Council’s expectations and provides guidance for developers and planning officers. It also seeks to ensure the provision of good quality PBSA in appropriate locations whilst protecting the character of existing areas.
It applies to all types of PBSA developments, including new build, change of use and conversion. To support the health and wellbeing of students, it is essential that they are provided with appropriately located, high quality accommodation. While many students will choose to live in other forms of accommodation, PBSA is a key part of the available accommodation in the city.
We want the guidance to help people understand what we require from the development of PBSA. To do this, we want to make sure the content is clear, helpful, and balanced.
When approved in its final form it will be used by the Council to assess planning applications.
You can read the draft guidance and give us your views in our online survey by Friday 23 May 2025.
Edinburgh World Heritage host regular events throughout the year — here are two upcoming events that you might be interested in.
Energy Retrofit of Traditional Buildings in Edinburgh
On Tuesday 25 March, this free event will offer insight on enhancing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in traditional buildings.
There will also be information on Edinburgh Word Heritage’s Climate Emergency Grant programme as well as a question and answer session. The event will conclude with tea and coffee.
On Thursday 20 March,Dr Angus Miller from University of Edinburgh will examine the influence Edinburgh’s underlying geology has had on the evolution of the city as well as the role it has played in placing Edinburgh at the heart of the development of ideas on how the world works.
Planning Edinburgh 
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