Radical planning changes could help house crisis

TOWN centre shops and agricultural buildings in rural areas could be turned into homes – if radical plans to tackle the housing emergency are approved.

The Scottish Government is thinking outside the box in a desperate bid to provide much-needed homes in this region and elsewhere.

However, their radical new plans have raised alarm bells with Dumfries and Galloway Council officials.

Chief planning officer David Suttie insists such plans would “make a negligible impact on the housing emergency”, and he’s concerned about the potential to relax planning regulations.

He stated: “This could allow substandard housing to be formed with a poor level of amenity for the residents, creating future problems.”

Last month, the Scottish Government launched a consultation on the potential for introducing new permitted development rights (PDR) to support the provision of new homes in Scotland.

If approved, this would effectively relax rules around planning permission for new homes to be built, and allow for some house building projects to go ahead without approval by local authorities.

Holyrood ministers believe that changes to planning rules around homes in rural areas and town centres could help deliver much-needed new homes and ease the housing emergency.

The matter is due to be discussed at next week’s economy and infrastructure committee with a report tabled from Mr Suttie.

He wrote: “In general, the objectives of the consultation are clearly desirable and accord with actions being undertaken to address the housing emergency declared by both the Scottish Government and many local authorities including Dumfries and Galloway Council.

“However, a number of the proposed changes to PDR would, at best, make a negligible impact on the housing emergency.

“No evidence has been provided that the need to submit a planning application is genuinely deterring developments from taking place, and the number of developments which would take place directly as a result of the change in PDR would be highly unlikely to result a material increase in the housing stock locally or nationally.

“At worst, some of the more radical options put forward for consideration would result in the removal of the safeguard of requiring a planning application to allow the impacts of the development to be properly assessed.

“This could allow substandard housing to be formed with a poor level of amenity for the residents, creating future problems.”

In total, there are 36 questions in the consultation and cover issues including allowing the conversion of upper and/or ground floors of shops to houses.

The deadline for submission of responses to the Scottish Government was on Monday, therefore draft comments have been submitted.

However, the final comments of the council will be confirmed after next week’s meeting.