Scottish firms are having to wait longer for decisions on planning applications despite efforts to speed up the process, a business group said yesterday.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said the planning system was getting slower not faster, with fewer companies having their applications dealt with within two months.
Using figures from Audit Scotland, the FSB highlighted the worst offending councils and the better performers in a regional breakdown of local-authority decision-making.
The slowest council was in the north isles, with 23.5% of Shetland firms having issues resolved within two months.
Aberdeenshire had the second poorest turnaround time, with 24% of applications being dealt with inside the same timescale.
Moray, Scottish Borders, Fife, Perth and Kinross, and South Ayrshire were also sluggish, with respective rates of 29.8%, 31.6%, 33.1%, 33.7% and 34.2%.
Aberdeen was another below the Scottish average, with 41.3% of business planning applications decided in under two months.
Across Scotland, 43.6% of applications reached an outcome within two months, down from 45.4% the previous year and 44.6% in 2006-07.
Highland was above the Scottish average in 2007-08, with 47.7% of business planning applications decided in under two months.
Clackmannanshire was the top performer, with 73.1% of firms getting a decision inside two months, but even the best area for speedy decision-making in Scotland was behind England’s average for 2008, with about 75% of its businesses achieving an outcome within two months.
FSB Scottish policy convener Andy Willox, who runs Aberdeen-based property maintenance business Goldstar, said: “The FSB in Scotland has for years been asking why the English planning system is so much more responsive in dealing with non-domestic planning applications. Despite the efforts which have been put into improving the system north of the border, the figures still aren’t moving in the right direction.”
Mr Willox said he had written to Jim Mackinnon, the Scottish Government’s chief planner, “seeking an outline of what can be done to break this logjam”.
He added he would be taking a close look at the figures for 2008-09 – due to be published in November – to see if there had been any improvement as a result of government measures to speed up the system.
A government spokesman said: “Since 2007, we have been intensifying reforms to simplify Scotland’s planning system, making it more effective and efficient to provide applicants and the development industry with greater certainty and speed of decision making.
“In recent months we have introduced several new initiatives, such as ePlanning (for online applications), and published guidelines on issuing decisions without unnecessary delay.
“We will continue working in partnership with local government, agencies and the development industry to have the right partnerships in place to provide applicants with quicker decisions.”