Tag: City Plan 2030

City Plan 2030 – next steps

Front Cover of City Plan 2030 - A view accross Edinburgh on a sunny day from the Crags.

City Plan 2030 has taken another significant step forward after agreement by the Councillors on the Planning Committee on Wednesday 30 November.

The proposed Plan was presented to Councillors at Planning Committee to decide on whether to submit the plan to Scottish Ministers for examination.

Councillors from across the political groups voted unanimously in favour of submitting the plan and congratulated planning officers and all those who contributed to the plan by concluding the session with a rare committee occurrence of a round of applause.

Councillors gave praise to the quality of the plan and commended the scale of the work that had been undertaken to produce such an ambitious document. Councillors recognised the capability of the plan to usher in a sustainable and modern future for Edinburgh, with comments of support from across the board over the need to progress the plan and see it adopted.

Watch a recording of the planning committee session here. 

Planning officers have now officially submitted their request for examination to the Scottish Ministers and the submission package includes:

  • The Proposed City Plan 2030
  • Representations to the plan
  • Schedule 4 Reports (the Council’s response to the representations)
  • Supporting documents submitted with representations
  • Supporting documents to the proposed plan (appendices, maps etc.)

A Scottish Government reporter will then begin the process of reviewing the plan and schedule 4 reports and evaluating the responses from the Council. This process is expected to take close to a year.

City Plan 2030 has taken a lot of hard work to get to this stage, and we’re looking forward to bringing the plan to adoption.

City Plan is ambitious. It aims to ensure that the planning of housing, employment and services addresses the need for net-zero development, resilience to climate change, quality places and green spaces; to deliver community infrastructure and job opportunities where people live and to embed a 20-minute neighbourhood principle at the heart of all places in Edinburgh. City Plan 2030 will help to transform Edinburgh into a truly modern, vibrant, and sustainable place that is befitting of a capital city.

City Plan 2030 Team.

Proposed changes to Guidance for Businesses – Short Term Lets

View of Edinburgh tenements with trees in the foreground.

We want your views on the proposed changes to the Guidance for Businesses and specifically the expanded section on short term lets (STLs).

In 2021, Scottish Government legislation allowed councils to have a short-term let control area. In a control area, this means if that if a flat or a house, which is not the home you live in, is used for a short-term let, you will need planning permission.

Edinburgh was the first council in Scotland to apply for a short-term control area, which has now been in place since 5 September 2022 and covers the whole of the Council’s area.

The amount of STL accommodation has grown significantly in the last ten years and Edinburgh is recognised as an area that has greater pressures than other parts of the country.

The current Guidance for Businesses has a section on short-term commercial visitor accommodation and we are proposing changes which were presented to the Planning Committee on 31 August 2022.

Planning applications for STLs be assessed against the Local Development Plan along with the updated guidance and any other relevant material considerations.

Your responses will shape the final version of the guidance which we aim to have in place in early 2023. 

Complete the online consultation here by 22 December 2022.

We’re Hiring!

We’re looking for a skilled and motivated planning officer to join our team.

Our planning service is continuing with our major change programme to help make it fit for the future and be fully able to support the significant change Edinburgh faces in the years ahead.

We are looking for a planning officer who is committed to delivering an efficient, effective and customer-focused planning service and delivering great places.  

You will be responsible for handling a varied and challenging range and volume of planning and enforcement cases, for carrying out projects and contributing to change and improvement, and for supporting the professional development of yourself and your colleagues.

As part of our agile, multidisciplinary workforce, you will be expected to continually gain skills enabling you to work in different teams and operational areas in the planning service.  

We are committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits that a diverse workforce with different values, beliefs, experience and backgrounds brings to us as an organisation.

Find out more at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/planningjobs.

Submit your application using myjobscotland – closing date Wednesday 13 April 2022.

Edinburgh’s Proposed Low Emission Zone takes another step forward

Last week Edinburgh’s proposed Low Emission Zone (LEZ) took another step forward, as sign-off was given by the Council’s Transport & Environment Committee last Thursday for of the official objection period.

The LEZ aims to reduce air pollution, since it presents a significant threat to public health. It is especially harmful to young children, the elderly and those suffering from pre-existing conditions, including heart and lung diseases.

LEZs are being introduced across Scotland’s four largest cities: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee in response to dangerous levels of air pollution generated by road traffic. The LEZ will improve public health by discouraging the most polluting vehicles from entering an area.

Last year we ran a consultation between June & September 2021 which received over 5,000 responses.

Following the consultation, an objection period ran from 1 February to 1 March 2022. During this time we received 26 objections and 1 letter of support. Objections were from a mixture of individuals, businesses and organisations including some Community Councils.

The most common objections were about;

  • the LEZ boundary should be wider or smaller
  • the process for assessing local exemptions
  • the modelling/evidence base & how robust it was

The next step for the LEZ is to submit the proposal to Scottish Ministers for approval. Assuming approval is granted by Ministers, the LEZ will be introduced on 31 May 2022. There will be a two year ‘grace period’, meaning it won’t be enforced until June 2024.

There are various LEZ related support funds for businesses and households available for other sustainable transport options. 

The Proposed LEZ will align with the Councils;

Scottish Planning Fees Change 1 April 2022

Fees for planning applications set by the Scottish Government change today for almost all application types.

This means everything submitted to us from today onwards is affected, including:

  • ‘full’ planning permission
  • planning permission in principle
  • certificates of lawfulness
  • advertisement consent

Amongst the changes, standard ‘householder’ fees increase from £202 to £300, whilst the standard fee for construction of a new dwelling increases from £401 to £600.

Details of the changes are set out by The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2022.

Using the ePlanning.scot Fee Calculator is the easiest way to calculate a fee, and can be used without having to log in or to submit an application.

Once you know your correct fee, paying is also easy, and can be done whilst submitting your application on ePlanning.scot.

For those applicants or agents who need to make an additional payment, or for applicants who may wish to pay after their agent has submitted, you can also pay for your planning application online using this link (for a quick guide to using this payment system, have a look at this blog post from November 2020.)

In addition, fees for pre-application advice are changing on 1 April – details can be found here.

Some other fees related to Planning & Building Standards change today, including;