Planning applications fall across almost every category

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry has today said that the SNP government must do more to lift up the economy and tackle the housing crisis after new figures revealed there has been a drop in planning applications across almost every category of development.

According to the latest Scottish Government Planning Applications Statistics 2023/2024:

• There has been a fall in applications across almost every category, including local developments, local housing developments, major developments and major housing developments.
• The number of local development applications is at its lowest level in 5 years at 22,565- this is down from 24,723 in 2022/23 and 26,585 in 2019/20.
• There were 277 major development applications, compared to 307 in 2019/20. There were also 77 major housing development applications, compared to 175 in 2019/20.
• The average waiting time for a planning decision rose for local developments and all housing developments.
• The average wait for a decision on a major housing development is now 59.8 weeks.

These figures come as the numbers of people experiencing homelessness and living in temporary accommodation have reached new highs.

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry said:

“These figures are very concerning because they point to a downward trend in the number of planning applications, while some applications are now waiting more than a year for a decision.  

“The SNP have only made things worse by taking an axe to the housing budget and failing to build the thousands of homes they promised for social rent.

“We need to fix the problems with our planning system because that is one of the key ways we can lift up our economy and tackle the housing crisis

“Scottish Liberal Democrats would also build more homes, bring thousands of empty homes back into use and re-establish social rent as a valid, long-term option.”