Planning News

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, including all the plants, animals, and microorganisms that interact with each other and their environments. Biodiversity is essential for the health and well-being of people and nature, as it provides us with food, water, medicine, materials, and many other benefits.

Biodiversity is also under threat from human activities, such as climate change, habitat loss, pollution, over-exploitation, and invasive species. The State of Nature Report (2023) highlighted that 49% of Scottish seabird species have declined and 11% of 7508 species in Scotland are threatened with extinction. This means that we are losing the natural capital that supports our economy and society.

The planning system has a key role in helping to protect and enhance biodiversity in Scotland, as it influences how land and resources are used and managed. The Scottish Government has published the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which sets out a long-term vision for spatial development in Scotland until 2045. One of the cross-cutting outcomes of NPF4 is ‘improving biodiversity’, which aims to halt biodiversity loss and restore nature by 2030, and regenerate biodiversity by 2045.

To achieve this outcome, NPF4 includes several policies and actions that support biodiversity, including Policy 3 c):

Proposals for local development will include appropriate measures to conserve, restore and enhance biodiversity, in accordance with national and local guidance. Measures should be proportionate to the nature and scale of development. Applications for individual householder development, or which fall within scope of (b) above (national, major or EIA development), are excluded from this requirement.

This means that, for the vast majority of planning applications, there is now a requirement to conserve, restore and enhance biodiversity at an application site. NatureScot has produced “Developing with Nature” guidance as a starting point for applying this policy. The guidance should be given due consideration through the site selection, design and planning application process. It also contains example measures for securing biodiversity enhancement; although it should be noted that these are not all suitable for Shetland. It is now expected that proposals for biodiversity enhancement will be submitted pre-determination as part of the supporting information accompanying a planning application.

The Developing with Nature guidance can be found here: https://www.nature.scot/doc/developing-nature-guidance