Our Planning Service Charter

1. Our commitment

Our planning service plays an important role in delivering sustainable economic growth. Our aim is to deliver an excellent service and be one of Scotland’s top planning authorities.

Our service is:

• Honest: we act with honesty and integrity. We treat all users of our service fairly, objectively and with respect. All decisions are made on the basis of their planning merits and in the public interest.
• Accessible: we make planning information clear and easy to access. We make it easy to contact us and to comment on applications and policies. We will listen to all contributions and take feedback into account.
• Transparent: we make information about planning applications and decisions, including the reasons for decisions, available on our website and at our offices.
• Responsive: we provide timely advice and planning decisions and continue to look at ways to improve the speed and quality of our service. We work proactively with communities, agencies and developers to get the right development in the right place.
• Effective: we provide accurate and useful planning advice. We write policies and make planning decisions that ensure a high quality of development that delivers the four aims of the National Park.

2. Our planning service

Our planning service is made up of Development Management and Development Planning. This charter sets out the service standards that you can expect from both of these teams. Our aim is to always meet the timescales set out in these standards, but there will be times when this will not be possible.

3. Development management

Development management is a key part of our planning service and covers:

• Determining planning applications and providing pre-application advice
• The Planning and Access Committee
• Local Reviews
• Monitoring and enforcement.

Advice and planning applications

We have a range of advice and information on all of aspects of our service and you can contact our planning team at: planning@lochlomond-trossachs.org.

Our Service Standards We will acknowledge all applications within 3 working days of receipt. We will check all applications for sufficient information within 5 working days of receipt and will either request further information to validate the application or write to confirm the application is valid. We will do a site visit within 20 working days of receiving a valid planning application. We will decide 90% of householder applications within 2 months and 80% of all local applications within 2 months. We will issue delegated decisions within 10 working days of the case officer making their recommendation (status changes to pending decision). We will respond to pre application enquiries within 20 working days.

 

Planning and Access Committee

Our Planning and Access Committee usually meets once a month in public to consider certain planning applications, enforcement actions, policy papers and access matters.

Our Service Standards The Planning Committee will at all times operate under the terms of its Standing Orders and observe the Code of Conduct For Members. We will publish an annual diary of Committee meeting dates on our website in January of each year We will write to anyone who has made a written representation about an application 7 working days before the meeting. We will make Committee papers available on our website and at our headquarters at least 7 working days before the date of each meeting. We will publish draft minutes on our website within 10 working days of each meeting.

 

Local Review Body

Our Local Review Body determines Notices of Review.

Our Service Standards We will validate a Notice of Review within 7 working days of receipt. We will make the Notice of Review available on our website and at our headquarters, and notify all interested parties, within 7 working days of the date of receipt of a valid review. The Local Review Body will at all times operate under the terms of its Standing Orders. The Local Review Body will aim to decide 80% of all Reviews within 2 months.

 

Monitoring

Our monitoring officer ensures that planning permissions are being complied with. Applicants are now required to notify us when they intend to start building and when works are complete. Find out more about our monitoring work.

Our Service Standards We will acknowledge Notices of Initiation of Development within 3 working days of receipt. We will respond to information submitted to meet conditions on a planning permission within 20 working days. We will determine a written request for a Non-Material Variation to a planning permission within 20 working days.

 

Enforcement

Our enforcement officer investigates possible breaches of planning control and seeks remedial action where necessary. For further details, please see our full Enforcement Charter.

Our Service Standards We will acknowledge receipt of written enquiries or complaints within 5 working days. We will respect the confidentiality of anyone raising a concern about a possible breach of planning control as far as is reasonably and legally possible. We will write to complainants within 20 working days of receipt of a written enquiry, to advise whether further action will be taken. We will do an initial inspection of sites within the following timescales: High Priority enquiries – 5 working days Medium Priority enquiries 15 working days Low Priority enquiries – 20 working days

 

4. Development planning

Our Development Planning team is responsible for preparing local planning policy and guidance. They prepare a new Local Development Plan for consultation every 5 years. They will also continually monitor the adopted Local Development Plan to review its effectiveness.

Our Service Standards We will write all policy and guidance in clear English. We will continue to produce supplementary guidance to support the implementation of our Local Development Plan. We will always publish draft guidance on our website and consult the public, Community Councils and other stakeholders for a minimum of 6 weeks. We will acknowledge receipt of written consultation responses and update responders at key stages of the process. We will monitor the adopted Local Development Plan to review its effectiveness and publish the results on our website annually.

 

5. Monitoring and performance

We will carry out regular monitoring to check whether we are achieving our service standards. We will report on our performance and progress in meeting these standards on an annual basis. We will review these service standards annually to ensure they are still relevant.

We want to hear from you

Your views and opinions are important to help us improve our service. You can contact us in the following ways:

• Email: planning@lochlomond-trossachs.org
• Post: Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, Carrochan, 20 Carrochan Road, Balloch, G83 8EG

Complaints

We aim to provide a high standard of service at all times. However, sometimes problems do arise. Please direct your initial complaint to our Planning Team on 01389 722024 or planning@lochlomond-trossachs.org.

If your complaint remains unresolved, please refer to our formal Complaints Procedure.