Scottish Planning Minister visits Aberdeen development panel

The Minister left the Trinity Group with a number of thoughts and suggestions on how to further streamline and improve the planning process, including key agencies and their role in the planning process, development viability and carbon reduction policies, said chair of the Trinity Group and property expert John Curran of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com,

The Minister and the group also discussed the "inextricably linked" questions of the recently announced increase in planning fees in Scotland and the "concomitant developer expectation of increased performance", processing agreements and the linked issue of project managers and combined consents, Curran said.

"Unlike the rest of the UK, with the exception of London, Aberdeen had seen no fall off in the last six years in respect of the number of major planning applications made by developers," said Curran. "Quite the reverse in fact and  that this assertion is based on Scottish Government statistics as well as comments made to Trinity by both the Planning Authority and key agencies such as Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Transport Scotland".

"The other side of that particular coin, however, was that despite the contra-cyclical nature of its economy, Aberdeen has still been subject to the same 'one size fits all' property and infrastructure funding and public service cut backs as the rest of the UK," he said.

"The Trinity message to all politicians is that, properly supported at a local and national level, Aberdeen can contribute even more than it does already to both the Scottish and the greater UK economy. In plain terms we are asking all politicians of whatever hue to invest in success. If they do then they will see a return not only in economic terms but also from a political credibility perspective," said Curran. 

The Trinity Group was set up in 2010 and aims to explain the challenges developers, planners and investors face in securing funding and bringing projects to completion. Members include senior figures of Aberdeen City Council, the chief executive of Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce, and senior representatives from the property development, surveying, banking, planning, legal and engineering sectors. 

Mackay previously met with the group in February 2012 and said that the Group was "punching very much above its weight in national terms". At yesterday's meeting he said that the Group's ideas had been "very influential" in establishing his personal agenda over the succeeding 12 months on how to "refine and improve the planning process in Scotland".