When a planning application is lodged in Scotland, the council writes to the nearest neighbours and to nobody else. This guide sets out who gets that letter, where every application is published, and how long there is to comment. The rules are the same in all 32 council areas.
- 20m
- from the site boundary: who gets a notice by post
- 21 days
- at least, to comment after the notice is sent
- 2 months
- for the council to decide most applications
Who gets a letter
The council, not the applicant, sends the notice. It goes to every property on "neighbouring land", which the regulations define as land that touches the application site or lies within 20 metres of its boundary. The letter is addressed to "the Owner, Lessee or Occupier", so it reaches whoever lives or works there.
Twenty metres is a short distance. It usually covers the adjoining properties, and often those directly behind or across the road. A home several doors along, or on the next street, is normally outside it and gets no letter.
When there is nobody to write to
If the neighbouring land has no building to send a notice to, the council publishes a notice in a local newspaper instead. Some kinds of application are advertised in a newspaper whatever the neighbours have been sent, including those that do not accord with the development plan.
Where every application is published
- Each council keeps a planning register, which it publishes on its own planning website. It holds every application with its forms and drawings.
- Each council sends a weekly list of new applications to every community council in its area.
- That weekly list is also available to read at the council's main office and in public libraries.
So anyone outside the 20 metres can find out, but only by looking. In practice that means checking the council's planning website or its weekly list regularly, or hearing from a neighbour or a community council.
How long there is to comment
The neighbour notice gives a date by which comments must reach the council. That date is at least 21 days after the notice was sent. Anyone may comment on an application, whether or not they received a notice, and the council's page for the application usually shows the date that applies.
How long the council has to decide
The council has two months from the date an application is validated to decide it, or four months for a national or major development. The council and the applicant can agree a longer period, and the council cannot decide before the time for comments has run out.
The source
These rules come from the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2013. Regulation 3 defines neighbouring land, regulation 18 covers the neighbour notice, regulation 20 the newspaper notice, regulation 23 the weekly list and regulation 26 the time to decide. Your council's planning service can confirm how it applies them.
City Scope reads the planning registers of all 32 Scottish councils through the day. A planning alert emails you when a new application is lodged near an address you choose, at any distance up to 2km, so you do not have to check. It reports what has been lodged and takes no side on it.
See what was lodged near you