Planning Application Process (Menie Estate)

The debate is about not the merits of a planning application, but the conduct of Government ministers in their dealings with the applicant. The Local Government and Communities Committee's report deserves careful consideration.

From the outset, the Trump application generated a great deal of interest across the region; there were strongly held and often opposing views in the north-east. At the beginning of December, quite a fevered atmosphere prevailed in the north-east, particularly following the meeting of Aberdeenshire Council's infrastructure services committee, when-perhaps understandably-feelings were running high.

At times like that, it is the responsibility of our most senior members of Government to keep a cool head. Surely we can look to the First Minister and his cabinet secretary to be circumspect in their dealings on such a matter? Surely, given the likelihood of their own involvement as the matter unfolds, we can rely on them to do nothing precipitous, to seek counsel and to consider that advice carefully? Unfortunately, we cannot rely on the Government to do that-quite the opposite. When ministers should have been cool, they were cavalier; when they should have been unbiased, they were unwise; and when they should have been prudent, they displayed poor judgment.

The committee report reveals an ungainly scramble by the First Minister to be seen as Mr Fix-it. Our First Minister jumped in at the deep end without a thought to the consequences, and what a splash he made. The new SNP Government has been hungry to make its mark, and to be seen to make changes and cut through red tape. What happened in December demonstrated the dangerous combination that inexperience and arrogance can be. Many commentators have highlighted how that disregard for the proper process put the whole project at risk. The meddling of ministers that the committee's report exposed not only jeopardised the proper assessment of the application, but might have imperilled the legal validity of the outcome.

The committee's report confirms that view at paragraph 242:

"it seems astonishing to accept that the First Minister did not perceive there might be a risk in his actions, that his actions might be open to question and that as a consequence the decision might be open to legal action."

The Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland commented recently:

"This has been a testing time for the planning system and for those involved."

The institute continued that it had

"provided evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Communities Committee and noted the importance of the scrutiny of all planning cases being politically impartial and according to planning law and planning policy".

I have long championed the role that land use planning plays in delivering more sustainable communities, and I have always believed that we should encourage greater public involvement in the planning process. However, getting more people involved is a slow process. The first steps include building up trust and understanding of the system, and unfortunately the actions of the ministers last December could well have set that back. Our planning system must command trust and commitment and it must be seen to operate without fear or favour. The committee states in conclusion at paragraph 269 of its report:

"The Committee is concerned by Ministerial action which reinforces the view that there is preferential access for some developers and some developments over others and this clearly will undermine confidence in the balance of the planning system."

Finally, I turn to the evidence that the past chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Mr Alistair Stark, gave in committee:

"In one sense, we were stating the blindingly obvious to ourselves: if the system is to survive, planning decisions must be open and in the public eye. The minute that we find that decisions are taken for obscure reasons and behind closed doors, we lose the public's confidence in the system. As I said, we were simply stating the obvious".-[Official Report, Local Government and Communities Committee, 30 January 2008; c 644.]

So far, the Government has shown a demonstrable lack of regard for any kind of proper process. It has been willing to take major decisions behind a smokescreen of evasions, and without an accountable process or audit trail. I invite the First Minister to acknowledge the "blindingly obvious" and undertake to learn the lessons that are outlined in the committee report. It is crucial that the Government acknowledges the importance of acting impartially, and from here on demonstrates that impartiality beyond any doubt in all its actions on planning matters.