Your local development plan: what is it and when can you get involved?

Last updated: 2 July 2025

Every planning authority in Scotland must produce a local development plan (LDP) for its area containing policies and proposals regarding the development and use of land. This allows everyone to look ahead to the future, thinking about what their areas should be like and how decisions of development can help to achieve this. A local development plan must be outcomes-focused and include targets for meeting the housing needs of people living in the area.   

A planning authority may produce more than one LDP, provided that each one has different purposes, and the boundaries of each of the authority’s LDPs do not need to be the same. Along with the National Planning Framework (NPF), an LDP is part of the statutory Development Plan. 

When preparing their LDP, planning authorities must take into account the NPF and any registered local place plans (LPPs) for the area the LDP covers. They must also consider their adopted Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and any local outcomes improvement plan (LOIP) for the LDP area. Although legislation requiring RSS is not yet in place, planning authorities are encouraged to develop an indicative Regional Spatial Strategy (iRSS) for their area.  

An LDP must include policies or statements on a number of specific matters as set out in Section 15 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended.  

Every planning authority area must have an LDP that is up to date (or in the process of being adopted) and is expected to produce a new LDP every 10 years. The planning policies in the LDP must be considered in the determination of every planning application.  

Local development planning has three main stages: evidence gathering, plan preparation and delivery. The programme and timetable for preparing an LDP should be set out by the planning authority in a Development Plan Scheme (DPS).  

This local development planning guidance produced by the Scottish Government outlines the process for preparing LDPs. 

The preparation of an LDP must follow, and the DPS should include, the evidence-gathering and consultation stages required under the Town and Country Planning (Development Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 as listed below: 

• Evidence report and assessment (Regulations 4 and 5)  

• Publication of proposed LDP (Regulation 10) 

• Consultation on proposed LDP (Regulation 11) 

• Publication of submission version LDP (Regulation 13), and  

• Examination of LDP (Regulations 15 - 18) 

A key stage for public engagement is the evidence gathering and data collection stage, which informs the evidence report. Planning authorities must seek the views of key agencies, children and young people, and the general public when they prepare their evidence report. This gives communities the opportunity to put forward sites and raise issues. At this stage, planning authorities must also invite local communities to prepare local place plans if they wish to.  

There is another key opportunity for public representations on an LDP immediately after the proposed LDP has been published (the Regulation 10 stage). At this stage, the planning authority must make it clear how and when the public can make representations on the proposed LDP. Planning authorities must make a record of all representations received and must produce a summary of all unresolved representations during the examination stage.  

The Development Plan Scheme (DPS) and any evidential documents for a proposed LDP should be published on the planning authority’s website.  

The final stage of the process is the examination of the LDP, which is held by reporters appointed by Scottish Ministers. The purpose of the examination is only to assess the issues raised in unresolved representations. Examinations are advertised in local newspapers and those who made representations to the proposed LDP are individually informed by letter or email. 

The Scottish Government has produced this Development Plan Examinations Guidance note for people who submitted representations to a proposed LDP, which contains lots of helpful information on the process and answers to frequently asked questions.  

At every stage in its preparation, an LDP is subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). How this works in practice is set out in the Scottish Government’s Local development planning guidance. SEA is a requirement under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 for the environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes that are likely to have a significant effect on the environment. 

The preparation of an LDP should also include a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), as required by the Habitats Regulations, if the plan is likely to have significant effects on Special Protection Areas and Special Areas for Conservation, which are internationally important for wildlife. 

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