A comment on Michael Pacione's 'The power of public participation in local planning in Scotland: the case of conflict over residential development in the metropolitan green belt'

摘要

Michael Pacione's article published in this journal in 2014 correctly notes that the Planning (Scotland) etc. Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act') has, contrary to the Scottish Government's claimed intentions, enormously restricted the opportunities for communities to engage in the planning system, resulting in widespread disillusion and resentment. However, Pacione makes a number of notable factual errors and, to use a good Scots term, seems to get himself into a bit of a 'guddle' (a messy confusion) in failing to identify the fundamental distinction between the statutory procedures governing consultation on, and adoption of, local development plans and those governing the submission and determination of planning applications.