What is Digital Planning?
Digital Planning is the Scottish Government's digital transformation of the planning system, which underpins the broader package of planning reform.
The programme is working towards the introduction of new systems and ways of working, designed to facilitate a planning system that is more inclusive, efficient and which supports sustainable economic growth.
Background
In 2015 an independent review of the planning system recommended that innovative use of data and technology in the planning system should be explored.
A Ministerial taskforce was established to guide and shape this work. The Digital Taskforce, chaired by the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning is comprised of a mixture of people from the planning and technology sectors, combining innovative thinking and real-world experience in planning and development.
We’re also looking to build upon our track record of delivering successful digital projects.
In 2016 we launched the award-winning eDevelopment.scot service. This combined the existing ePlanning portal with a new portal called eBuildingStandards, creating a single national service that enables the submission of planning and building standards applications online. Today eDevelopment has over 40,000 registered users and receives around 5,000 planning and building submissions from applicants and their agents each week.
Our future plans will be outlined in a Digital Strategy for Planning, scheduled to launch later in 2020.
What we've done so far
This programme is building on our previous successful delivery of digital services and systems. We currently run and maintain eDevelopment, the service through which up to 95% of planning applications in Scotland are now made. The service has delivered savings for local authorities since launch in 2016.
Since we started the Digital Planning programme we have;
- Spoken to over 1000 people
- Developed a suite of prototypes to illustrate what change could look like
- Supported initiatives across government using our digital mapping tool
Read more about our work to date
What happens next
We’ll outline our future plans for new and improved digital services in the Digital Strategy for Planning, scheduled to launch later in 2020.
The strategy will contain the evidence base for change, as well as outline our proposed roadmap for delivery of new services.
We’ll be working with partners across the planning system to create the systems and ways of working needed to underpin a planning system that is more inclusive, efficient and which support sustainable economic growth.
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Last Updated: 19 Nov 2020