Planning changes will create Scottish 'shanty towns'

PARTS of Scotland will turn into "shanty towns" if controversial proposals to deregulate the planning system go ahead, experts have warned.

The Scottish Government is advocating widespread changes to legislation which would allow homeowners to build some house extensions without planning permission.

It believes that cutting away red tape will result in thousands fewer applications each year, saving the public hundreds of thousands of pounds in fees and freeing up civil servants to concentrate on more contentious developments.

However, civic groups, lawyers, local authorities and planning consultants fear the amendments could lead to a "free for all" with "neighbours fighting neighbours" over unsightly building projects.

The government's steps to introduce Householder Permitted Development Rights (HPDR) will enable homeowners to carry out a range of work without planning permission.

A key change will allow people to build a single storey extension to the rear of their property to a size equivalent to 50 per cent of their entire plot, a significant increase on the current limit of 24 square metres.

A "one-metre bubble" surrounding properties will also allow fixtures such as satellite dishes to be installed, again without the need for consent.

The government points out that half of the 40,000 applications submitted to planning authorities each year are from homeowners, of which 97 per cent are approved with little or no amendments. The revised laws, it believes, will decrease applications by 20 per cent.

But the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) believes the government should have a "better system in place" before relaxing the laws. "It's a recipe for creating shanty towns," said Neil Baxter, secretary and treasurer of the RIAS. "This is not what the legislators are seeking and there is a danger that if you cut out the approvals process you reduce the likelihood of people taking advice, creating the potential for disputes."

The Cockburn Association, the heritage watchdog in Edinburgh, believes that parts of the capital could become a development "free for all."

Marion Williams, the association's director, said: "This is going to have neighbours fighting neighbours. Although it sounds awfully alarmist to talk about neighbour disputes turning into neighbour nightmares, I know that's what happens when you relax the planning system in this way."

A government spokesman said: "We want to remove, in certain cases, the need for householders to apply for planning permission, enabling planning authorities to focus their attention on processing larger development applications. "These proposals strike the right balance between cutting red tape to help householders and safeguarding amenity."