Changes in the rules made by the Scottish Government mean that from today onwards, new proposals for many domestic extensions, ramps, sheds, garages and decking at existing buildings will no longer need planning permission.
There are still restrictions on listed properties and those within Conservation Areas, but the relaxation should mean a reduction in bureaucratised planning applications of around 4,000 per year across Scotland.
The intention is that this should help people improve their homes with less hassle and expense, and boost the building trades. It should also help to unclog local authorities' planning systems.
Bob Reid, Convenor of the Royal Town Planning Institute Scotland has welcomed the changes, saying: 'RTPI Scotland welcomes the new permitted development rights. These new rules will make it easier for people to make changes to their homes, with the right safeguards for neighbours and for conservation areas and listed buildings.
'This should allow planning authorities to focus their attention on more complex developments often with larger impact, which, in turn should help to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning system.'
However, not everybody is so content. As we reported in Issue 192, following the consultation period (October 2010–January 2011), the New Town and Broughton Community Council had grave doubts about the proposals' likely effects on:
- as yet non-listed but still architecturally interesting buildings (such as the 1920s/30s Miller homes around Broughton);
- visually sensitive buffer zones immediately adjacent to Conservation Areas, such as McDonald and Bellevue Roads whose future listing might be jeopardised by development clutter
- Scottish tenements, for which there appeared to be no adequate definition in the legislation.
See Extras (1.3.11) for the full text of NTBCC's submission.
You can download the new rules here, and a summary of the consultation responses here.
------ Update (7.2.12) ------
John Knight – the New Town and Broughton Community Council's Planning Convener – will attend a Planning Seminar on 21 February at which the new legislation will be discussed. 'It will be interesting,' he remarked in yesterday evening's monthly meeting, 'to see if any special provision has been made for unlisted tenenements not in conservation areas following the extreme we expressed at the draft stage'.
Leith Central Community Council has already 'taken up the cudgel', said Knight, by trying to get the Pilrig colonies included in the conservation area.
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The cudgel in question became clearer this evening (7.2.12) when Leith Central CC Planning Convenor Annette O'Carroll contacted us with a copy of the email she has sent all Leith Walk ward councillors, Malcolm Chisholm, MSP and Mark Lazarowicz, MP. We reproduce it in full below.
From: Annette O'Carroll [mailto:aocarroll2006@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: 07 February 2012 13:07
To: Deidre Brock; Maggie Chapman; Angela Blacklock; Louise Lang
Cc: Malcolm Chisholm; Mark Lazarowicz
Subject: Planning threat to Leith Streets
Dear Councillors
You may be aware that recent legislation – the Householder Permitted Development Rights – allows householders the 'freedom' to make significant changes to their property without the need to seek planning permission UNLESS the property is listed or is in a conservation area.
Just this week (under the old legislation, but apparently in the spirit of the new), permission was granted for an extension to the rear of 6 Cambridge Avenue that will cover half the garden, even though the gardens here are tiny and the extension will also be very near the houses opposite in Cambridge Gardens. Perhaps the most worrying part of the HPDR is that owners appear to be able to do anything they like to the front of their properties within a 'bubble' of 1 metre; this could have a particularly serious effect on tenemental property
Because of this, Leith Central Community Council is extremely keen to get the boundary of the Leith Conservation Area extended to include certain streets in the Pilrig area that are of historical/architectural merit.
These include the prototype colony area in Edinburgh, the Shaws Colonies, built by the Pilrig Model Dwelling Company in 1849. These streets (although the houses were B-listed in 1999) are not included in the Leith Conservation Area and neither are the tenements in Spey Terrace, built by the Edinburgh Artisan Building Company in 1867. Pilrig Cottages, at the back of Pilrig Street, are another good example of early 19th Century artisan housing. The latter two examples are unlisted and the streets will be therefore at risk of insensitive additions and 'improvements' under the terms of the Householder Permitted Development Rights legislation unless they, and other examples of good, and historically interesting, architecture in the Pilrig area are included in the LCA.
Other notable examples at risk include the unusual and very nicely detailed tenements built by R. Rowand Anderson in 1868 on the northern side of Balfour Street (itself historically interesting as the former tree-lined driveway from Leith Walk to Pilrig House, with its connections to Robert Louis Stevenson). These are not listed and are vulnerable. Both Cambridge Avenue (which contains at No. 44 the former gardener's cottage for the Balfour Estate) and Cambridge Gardens (1880s), with their own community garden, were apparently originally part of a gated community and have some nice architectural details which should not be lost. Similarly, Rosslyn Crescent (1888) is a good example of a Victorian street with a common central garden, unusual in the Pilrig Area.
Leith Central Community Council discussed the question of the risk to these streets posed by the HPDR legislation at its January 2012 meeting and it was decided that we should now investigate how to have them included in the LCA. The Pilrig Residents' Association had also noted this as desirable in their recommendations for improvements to streets in the Pilrig area even prior to this new legislation.
We have now written to Will Garrett, CEC's Development Planning Group Leader, who replied (copied to Jack Gillon, CEC Built Heritage):
'We are aware of the merits of the area that you describe and recognise it does not have the protection that conservation area status would convey. While we keep the boundaries of conservation areas under review we have a limited resource with which to carry out major assessments and our immediate task is to review the colonies properties throughout the city. However, I shall discuss this with my colleagues and let you know whether we can programme a review of the area you describe for later in the year.
In the meantime it would be helpful to know what level of local support exists among the residents for considering conservation area status'.
This is rather non-committal, and our fear now is that unless the boundary of the LCA is extended fairly soon to include the streets mentioned above, the NPDR could well mean that the architectural integrity of a very nice area of Edinburgh/Leith will be spoiled for ever.
LCCC feels this is an important issue for the Pilrig area and would now ask for your help and support in this matter.
Best wishes
Annette O'Carroll
Annette O'Carroll
Planning Convenor Leith Central Community Council