The Development Plan

It is the role primarily of the development plan to guide the future use of land and the appearance of places, indicating where development should or should not happen. Two kinds of plan operating at different levels make up the development plan. A structure plan addresses land use issues which cross local authority boundaries and strategic infrastructure. Local plans prepared in the context of a structure plan provide the detailed policies which guide most day-to-day decision making. Decisions must be made on the basis of the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

The Council’s current intention is to have in place two local plans, the Edinburgh City Local Plan and the Rural West Edinburgh Local Plan, which can sit with the Edinburgh and Lothians Structure Plan 2015 and make up the development plan for their respective areas.

• The Edinburgh and the Lothians Structure Plan 2015 was prepared jointly by the City Council with the councils for East, Mid- and West Lothian. It was approved by the Scottish Ministers in 2007. For further information please visit the Edinburgh and the Lothians Structure Plan website.

• The Edinburgh City Local Plan was prepared in 2007, but has not yet been adopted. A public local inquiry was held towards the end of 2008 to deal with objections made to the Plan as it stands and to modifications which the Council has proposed making to the Plan. The Edinburgh City Local Plan page will keep you up-to-date with progress towards its adoption, which should be early in 2010.

• The Rural West Edinburgh Local Plan was adopted by the Council in 2006. An Alteration is in preparation, dealing with the airport’s growth plans amongst other matters. You can view the Alteration proposals and track progress by clicking on Alteration.

When adopted, the Edinburgh City Local Plan will replace six older plans, prepared for different parts of the same area. These may also be viewed or downloaded via the following pages:
• Central Edinburgh Local Plan (adopted in 1997)
• South East Edinburgh Local Plan (2005)
• North East Edinburgh Local Plan (1998, with 2004 Alteration)
• North West Edinburgh Local Plan (1992)
• South West Edinburgh Local Plan (1993).

A new kind of development plan.

The planning system in Scotland is undergoing radical overhaul and modernisation. As part of this, the development plan in the future will have a different look and will be prepared in different ways. The Scottish Government web site provides more information on these and other changes, which are now well advanced.

What will these changes mean for Edinburgh?

Firstly, the structure plan will be replaced by a strategic development plan, prepared for a larger area that includes the Scottish Borders and parts of Fife. It will be prepared by a new authority, a consortium of all the planning authorities in the area and called SESplan. Go to the SESplan website to view its intentions for preparation, set out in its Development Plan Scheme, and to view other related documents.

Secondly, both existing local plans will be replaced by a single local development plan, covering the whole of the Council area. Preparation of this plan will follow close behind preparation of the strategic development plan. The Council’s intentions and current programme for this are set out in its Development Plan Scheme, which is reviewed annually.

Local Development Plan Scheme

The new Planning Act requires Councils to prepare new style local development plans (LDPs). The Council will prepare a single LDP for its area. The Act also requires councils to prepare local development plan schemes.

This is the first such scheme prepared by the Council. It sets out the Council’s programme for preparing the first LDP for the area, which will in due course replace the current generation of local plans:

• Edinburgh Local Development Plan Scheme (March 2009) (PDF, 240 kb)