As Scotland endured its first lockdown, a range of emergency powers were enacted to help mitigate the widespread impact of the Covid-19 virus, which included measures to support the development industry.

Notable provisions of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the subsequent Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 included the extension of Planning Permissions, Planning Permissions in Principle, Listed Building Consents and Conservation Area Consents granted that would have otherwise lapsed during the emergency period.

The Scottish Government remain committed to retaining all necessary measures to continue to address the ongoing pandemic and have announced that Part 1 of both Scottish Coronavirus Acts will now be extended to 30 September 2021.

The associated Town and Country Planning (Emergency Period and Extended Period) (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 will come into force on 30 March 2021 and include further measures related to the duration of Planning Permission, Planning Permission in Principle, Listed Building Consent and Conservation Area Consent.

As set out by the Regulations, the duration of the above stated permissions due to expire between now and 30 September 2021 will be automatically been extended to 31 March 2022, if development has not yet been implemented.

The Scottish Government are of the view that extending the duration of permissions granted will support the development sector in its recovery from Covid-19 restrictions and reduce the potential future burden on local authorities who may have otherwise had to assess applications for the renewal of permissions.

Whilst an automatic extension will apply, we would encourage applicant’s to check with local authorities whether there is potentially any ambiguity as to the provisions applying to their applications granted.

If you would like to discuss whether this extension applies to any of your development proposals, please do get in touch.