7. To ask the Scottish Government what it considers an acceptable length of time for negotiations on planning conditions to conclude. (S5O-04539)

There are statutory timescales for determining planning applications. If those are not met, an applicant can appeal or seek local review on the grounds of non-determination.

Three years on from the Minister’s notice of intent to approve the controversial Park of Keir development and more than a dozen extensions to planning negotiations later, there is still no agreement on the proposal. Does the minister agree that any three-year planning negotiation that was initially meant to last only three months risks becoming meaningless, because the context is likely to have changed dramatically since the original decision?

We are aware that planning obligations can be a source of sometimes significant delay in the planning process The Government encourages negotiations to be conducted as timeously as possible. Negotiations between Stirling Council and the developer over the planning obligations in that case are on-going. Under the current circumstances, a further extension to September 2020 has been allowed for the obligations to be concluded between the parties.