Planning fees will be cut in half for projects which benefit the health of local communities under new rules approved by East Lothian councillors today.
The council’s chief planning officer Keith Dingwall asked elected members to back proposals to give not for profit applications which are health-related a 50% reduction in application costs.
The move will mean any application which planners consider social enterprises which are likely to “contribute to improving the health of residents in the area to which the application relates.” will cost less.
And it is hoped it will encourage local groups or organisations who may have been put off by the fees to bring projects forward.
Mr Dingwall told a meeting of elected members that a review of the last three years had identified a small number of projects which would have qualified for the reduction had it been in place reducing the income for planning fees by less than £5,000 a year.
Asked for an example he highlighted a community football club which had applied for a change of use of its building to a sports hub and would have been able to apply for the discount if it was in place.
However he added in another case an agent had tried to argue for a reduction in costs for an application to build 150 homes because it included a footpath open to the public which he argued was a health benefit.
Mr Dingwall said: “We will have to be pretty strict with the applications.”
He told councillors a number of local authorities, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Perth & Kinross, already offer reduced planning fees for health related applications and said that they had considered waiving the fee but given costs involved in dealing with them felt the half price fee was more appropriate.
He said: “This will encourage health-related developments, which will improve the health of residents within the local area. However, there remains a significant amount of work involved in determining these applications and it is therefore still appropriate to take 50% of the fee for the service.”
Councillors welcomed the move and voted unanimously to support its introduction from July 1 this year.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
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