New Scottish planning legislation in force

The Scottish Parliament has passed legislation to enable development of sites by, or on behalf of, a local authority or health service body for reasons relating to COVID-19.

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020 was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 23 April and came into effect on 24 April 2020. 

The Order amends the GPDO to grant planning permission for certain development carried out by, or on behalf of local authorities or health service bodies for the purposes of preventing, reducing, mitigating or controlling the effects of the current emergency caused by the spread of the COVID 19 virus and its impacts on public health. This supports timeous reaction to the current public health emergency caused by the spread of the virus.

The amendment is time limited and will cease to have effect on or before 31 December 2020, further requiring that any development permitted under the provisions of the Amendment Order be removed or ceased, and the land returned to its previous use and condition within a further 6 month period from that date.

The legislation can be found here.