Tag: helpdesk

Planning Helpdesk and Weekly Lists – Christmas and New Year arrangements  

View from Princes Street of Edinburgh Castle covered in snow with a sunset in the background.

The Planning Helpdesk will be closed from Monday 25 December 2023 and will reopen on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

Queries received over this time will be dealt with starting on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

Our online resources and self-service options will still be available 24/7, ensuring that you can find information and resources whenever you need them.

We have a wide range of planning quick guides – these answer a lot of commonly asked questions, including for

Planning guidance gives advice on topics to guide new development. This guidance answers a lot of commonly asked questions for

The Planning Portal is the easiest & quickest way to comment on planning applications. When you submit a comment over the planning portal, we receive it within minutes.

Planning enforcement issues can also be reported online.

Weekly lists & planning advertisements

Please note there will be NO planning weekly lists issued Monday 25 December 2023.

The next weekly list will be issued on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

The following dates apply for the planning advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening News

  • Friday 22 December 2023 – Advertisement
  • Friday 29 December 2023 – NO Advertisement
  • Friday 5 January 2024 – Advertisement

Help us to help you

The Planning service is as busy as ever with large number of planning applications and enforcement queries coming through the door. Key projects are continuing to progress including City Plan 2030 and the Low Emissions Zone. At the same time, we have a continuous programme of improvement to address changes such as the new planning fees and to ensure our processes are as efficient and robust as possible.

We are pleased that a number of new assistant planners have been recruited and they will be joining us over the next few months. We are also recruiting for a new planning officer.

Whilst there is much positive news, we do recognise that planning applications are taking longer to assess and determine than we would like, and we are not always meeting our statutory timescales. We know we need to do better. We are looking at a number of measures to address the backlog.

If you have recently submitted or about to submit an application, please pay particular attention to your acknowledgement letter at this time.

Photographs & relevant contextual plans

It would help significantly if you could provide the following information at the time of application submission or upload as additional information post submission:

  • Photographs showing the location of the work and the wider context (including interiors for listed building consent applications)
  • Dimensions on the plans
  • Contextual information i.e. neighbouring windows/ extensions (if relevant)
  • 45 degree daylighting calculations (if relevant)

Please be patient and understanding – we will get there but it is going to take a little longer.

Customer Update – Help us to help you

We are continuing to experience a record level of applications since our last Customer Update a few weeks ago. Whilst this is positive for the City, it is a particularly challenging time for the service as it is coinciding with reduced resources.

To manage the workload effectively, a new system has been put in place where new applications are being put in a holding system until a case officer becomes available. This approach will ensure that workloads are manageable for case officers.

We will be dealing with applications in chronological order and once assigned, the case officer will only contact you if:

1) additional information is required to assess the application;

2) amendments are needed to your proposals; or

3) your application is likely to be refused.

We remain committed to providing good customer care for each application but inevitably, it is going to take longer than normal to process applications. Because we are concentrating on determining applications as quickly as possible, there will be an impact on other aspects of our work such as responding to queries.

Help us to help you:

It would help significantly if you could provide the following information at the time of application submission (or whilst it is hold):

  • Photographs showing the location of the work and the wider context (including interiors for listed building consent applications)
  • Dimensions on the plans
  • Contextual information i.e. neighbouring windows/ extensions (if relevant)
  • 45 degree daylighting calculations (if relevant)

Before applying please read our planning guidelines – these answer a lot of commonly asked questions, including for;

Your patience and understanding is appreciated. We will get there but it is going to take longer.