Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities dealing with specialist planning applications, such as those involving quarrying or mining where no identifiable expertise exists within the local authority planning department.
The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders, on a package of actions to strengthen a range of planning skills across Scotland.
The Scottish Government has established the Hydrogen Planning Hub and the Housing Emergency Hub in response to concerns about capacity and skills. We are currently considering the further role that Hubs can play in supporting planning authorities to address the skills and capacity issues they are facing.
In our Planning and Housing Emergency Delivery Plan, published in November 2024, we have committed to the roll out of a co-ordinated skills and recruitment drive through a coherent National Planning Skills Campaign. We will announce this work soon and deliver it over the coming months.