Make a Planning Application

House plan photo

To make a planning application online click the ePlanning link below to go to the Scotland ePlanning portal. You will need to create a user account on ePlanning.scot before starting a proposal.

ePlanning portal

The Fees for Applications changed from Friday 1st April 2022. All planning and other applications that are validated from that date incur new fees from those that previously existed.
A link to the fee regulations effective from 1st  April 2022 can be found below:

The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 -  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2022/50/contents/made, as revised by The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/en/ssi/2022/190/introduction/made .

The Government's Circular (Planning Circular 2/2022) gives additional information on the fees payable. 

From 1st April 2024, where the application for planning permission applied for is made for retrospective approval of development that has either started or has already been carried out in full without permission, any application for planning permission validated from that date will also incur a 25% surcharge in addition to the fee as calculated in line with The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2022.

From 1st April 2024, a request made to the planning authority to vary a planning permission under section 64 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended), i.e. a Non Material Variation, will be subject of a £200 fee. This is a set amount laid down in Part 1 Regulation 4 (3) which the Council is permitted to charge for this service. There is no limit on the number of requests that may be made.

The fee for an application, unless otherwise noted, is not refundable once the planning application has been submitted and accepted as being valid. Your fee can be reduced or waived, and amongst the circumstances where this can be the case are:

  • if the application is made by a community council, the fee will be reduced by 50%;
  • no fee if the application is for works to improve access for a disabled person;
  • no fee if the application is submitted within 12 months of the date of refusal for an application of the same description or character, if made by the same applicant; (only applies to one application following the original application); and
  • no fee if the application is submitted within 12 months of the date of submission of an application of the same description or character, if made by the same applicant, which is withdrawn. (Only applies to one application following the original application)

Need Help?

If you are unsure how to proceed help is available either by reading the planning advice notes or by contacting the Development Management team direct. Doing so could save time, money and avoid enforcement action.

The Development Management Team provides a free Planning Duty Officer service each weekday (excluding public holidays) between 9am - 10.30am at 8 North Ness Business Park. This service is available both in person, and by telephone on 01595 744293. You can also contact Development Management regarding general planning application matters by emailing development.management@shetland.gov.uk.

For the purposes of assessing the completeness or otherwise of planning applications and other related consents the Council has adopted for use the Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) validation of applications guidance.
To ensure you complete your forms correctly it is recommended you read and follow these guidelines:
HOPS validation & determination guidelines
This will help avoid delays.

Please note that further information on planning and building standards matters is also available elsewhere on this website and at the Scottish Government website. This includes how, following the adoption by Scottish Ministers of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) on 13 February 2023, this is now part of the development plan. The most distinctive characteristics of NPF4 are that it has been purposefully designed to help achieve a net zero, sustainable Scotland by 2045 and to secure positive effects for biodiversity and nature recovery. More about NPF4 can be found at: National Planning Framework – Transforming Planning website.

Processing Agreements

The use of what are called ‘processing agreements’ is recommended and will be offered for all major development planning applications as well as for what we identify at the outset will be complex or contentious local development proposals.

A processing agreement is a project management tool. Processing agreements can set out the key processes involved in determining an application, identify what information is required and from whom, and set the timescales for the delivery of various stages of the process.

The Scottish Government has published a report on the benefits of using processing agreements and a processing agreement template.

Processing Agreement Report

Processing Agreements template