Council Report PNCA/036/21/AL was approved in May 2021 and it was agreed that any information requests or hearing requested during the Local Development Plan 2 Examination will be delegated to officers subject to oversight by the Executive Officer – Land Planning and Development in liaison with the Convenor of Place, Neighbourhood and Corporate Assets.
Paragraph 3.92 stated:
“During the Examination the Reporter(s) may ask for additional information. The Reporter(s) can request additional information from any identified person or organisation. When this occurs, the information will normally be requested in the form of a written submission, although Reporter(s) can request that oral evidence sessions are held where they believe that further discussion or questioning is likely to be helpful. This is usually expected to take the form of a hearing, with a discussion led by the appointed person, rather than an inquiry.Such information requests are likely to be at short notice and require immediate attention by Council officers to ensure that the Examination is not stalled in any way.Therefore it is recommended in this report that this process is delegated to officers subject to oversight by the Executive Officer – Land Planning and Development in liaison with the Convenor of Place, Neighbourhood and Corporate Assets.Technical Notes will be issued to Members should this occur. In addition, updates to stakeholders and communities will be provided on the DPEA and Council website and through the LDP newsletter.If required further dissemination will be carried out through local newspapers and social media”.
Action Taken:
The Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) has so far issued two ‘further information requests’, since the examination commenced on 27 October 2021. These relate to Business and Employment Land and Housing. Officers have responded to one of these (Business and Employment Land) and the remaining one on Housing is pending. Further informal correspondence has also been on going to clarify any minor matters.
All further information requests and the responses will be published on the DPEA website.
In addition, many of the further information requests are copied direct to other individuals and organisations that submitted representations relevant to the issue. A LDP newsletter was recently sent out to update interested parties of this on-going activity.
Should Members require any further information please contact the Land Planning Policy team.