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Obtaining planning permission

What happens after planning permission

View our Customer Briefing Notes for the latest changes to the Planning Service.

After processing your planning application, we send a letter with our decision granting or refusing your application. Find out what happens depending on the decision:

Refused planning permission

If we refused your application you have a right to appeal against it or ask for a review if: 

  • you are unhappy with our decision
  • you disagree with the conditions attached to your permission
  • we didn't make a decision within the time period set by the law

How you appeal depends on who made the decision. If your application was decided by our planning officer, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed by the Local Review Body, which is a group of councillors. If the decision was made by councillors, you can appeal to Scottish Ministers.

Our refusal letter will explain how to do this in more detail. You can also view a guide to planning appeals on the Scottish Government website. 

You can request a review or make an appeal online on the ePlanning portal. Alternatively, you can get the relevant forms from the portal and appeal by post.

Granted planning permission

After receiving planning permission we will send you 2 forms to complete at different stages:

  • Notice of Initiation of Development (NID)
  • Notice of Completion of Development (NCD) 

You will need to complete the NID form to inform us when the work on the site will start. You will need to do this before starting any material operation such as constructing, demolishing, digging foundations, roadworks and a material change in the use of the land.

Once your development is completed you will need to fill in the NCD form.

It is your responsibility to obtain all necessary planning and non-planning consents before starting any development work. 

Discharge of planning conditions and compliance with conditions

This is for large-scale energy, transmission and infrastructure development only.

The majority of detailed planning applications contain a number of suspensive planning conditions that are required to be discharged before any work commences on site and any other conditions that have discharge requirements, such as prior to occupation or within a specific timescale. This is often referred to as a discharge of conditions or satisfaction of conditions.

A separate application and fee are required for each request. A request can include one or several conditions. Once the application is checked and made valid, a response is provided within 3 months. A priority service is also provided for more time critical developments with a 6-week response period.

The formal discharging of planning conditions may be subject to consultation with other council services or external consultees. Where prior discussion/agreement has been sought with a planning officer it would be helpful if a copy of this correspondence is submitted alongside the drawings/supporting information.

This service can also be used after a development has been completed and you require a letter stating that the development has been delivered in accordance with the approved details. This is a request for compliance with conditions.

For development falling under the category of large-scale energy, transmission and infrastructure development, complete the discharge of conditions request form (PDF 179KB) and submit this to our correspondence address.

On receipt of your completed form you will receive a reference number. This reference number is required for submitting all supporting information using the ePlanning.scot portal and selecting the Post Submission Additional Documents (PSAD) form and attaching all of the documents. When submitting the supporting documents, please provide a full description and/or list of the details which are being submitted for approval for each condition. Please state which condition each document relates to.

There is a fee for discharge of conditions and satisfaction of conditions service. On receipt of your request, you will be provided with a reference number, this will allow you to make payment using one of our payment methods.

For all other development and application types, contact your local planning office for advice.

If there are conditions attached to your permission, it is important that you comply with these for your development to be lawful.

Request a variation to your planning permission

Once a planning permission has been granted there will be instances where the proposals may require to be amended for various reasons. The Planning Acts allow the council to vary a planning permission where the variation in not ‘material’ in nature. Therefore, requests for variations will fall into two categories: non-material variations and material variations.

Non-material variations

This is an amendment that does not significantly change the proposal granted planning permission. Such amendments are therefore by definition minor changes only.

Only planning applications can be the subject of non-material variations, these include:

  • Full planning permission
  • Planning permission in principle
  • Matters specified in conditions

It does not apply to:

  • Listed building consents
  • Conservation area consent
  • Advertisement applications
  • Prior approvals and notifications

Requests can be made by the applicant, agent, or new applicants providing they have permission in writing from the previous applicants. It is also advisable to check and confirm any changes with Building Standards team in terms of any building warrant granted and complying with relevant building regulations.

We will only accept requests that:

  • Are in writing with valid scaled plans clearly showing the variation
  • The change should be clearly highlighted whether by using an alternative colour or graphic/writing identifying the changes
  • Don't involve a material change of use requiring planning permission
  • Don't result in a change to the nature of the approved application
  • Comply with the policies of our Local Development Plan
  • Don't require further neighbour notification

At the present time there is no fee providing that the request is made within 12 months of the date of the permission. However, please note that fees for most development types will be introduced as phases 2 and 3 of the charging regime.

Large scale energy, transmission and infrastructure development only

For development falling under the category of large-scale energy, transmission and infrastructure development, complete the non-material variation request form (PDF 126KB) and submit the relevant fee. Applications will not be processed until the form and fee have been received.

The target for processing these type of non-material variations is 28 days from receipt/validation.

Material variation

Where a request doesn't meet the criteria of non-material variations, it will be deemed a material change, and planning permission will be required. A separate application for planning permission will require to be submitted and determined in the normal way, including neighbour notification.