MSPs should think again about the massive financial implications of the Planning Bill currently making its way through the Scottish Parliament, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Scotland has warned.
RTPI Scotland writes:
The possible total cost associated with the provisions now included in the Bill – set out today in a Financial Memorandum – has risen to over a billion pounds. The figures were described as ‘eye-watering’ by RTPI Scotland, saying that they could lead to a planning service that is unable to function properly. Craig McLaren, the RTPI’s Director of Scotland and Ireland, said: ‘The new duties and responsibilities included in the current Bill will have a massive financial impact on planning authorities, developers and communities. None of them have funded attached to them and their imposition could cause the planning service to grind to a halt entirely. There is surely a need now for MSPs to look again at whether the 91 new duties and responsibilities introduced during the scrutiny of the Bill are an essential part of it or whether they could be introduced through new and existing policy provisions or secondary legislation and regulations.’
The Financial Memorandum sets out the following costs if all the new duties and responsibilities remain in the final version of the Bill
- for planning authorities: £18.84m to £74.33m
- for developers: £395.20m to £1,176.79m
- for communities: £11.96m
The RTPI point out that these huge added costs come at a time of severe cuts for Scottish planning services which have seen a 25% decrease in planning staff and a 40% cut in budgets since 2009.
