A draft of Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) is now open for feedback and responses as part of an online consultation.

NPF4 is designed to be a long-term plan for Scotland, setting out how Scottish Government’s approach to planning and development will help to achieve a net-zero, sustainable Scotland by 2045.

NPF4 aims to guide spatial development, set out Scotland’s national planning policies, and designate certain developments or classes of development as “national developments”, which Scottish Ministers have established a need in principle for.

When adopted (which is planned for summer 2022), NPF4 will have the status of the development plan for planning purposes. This means that its policies should inform day to day decision making in the planning system. It will also guide local development plans and will be relevant to regional spatial strategies and important for communities as they develop their Local Place Plans (LPP).

Draft NPF4 is now subject to Parliamentary scrutiny for up to 120 days, and Scottish Government is inviting responses until Thursday 31^st March 2022.

Scottish Government is keen to encourage responses to the consultation from a wide range of interests, and have prepared a range of resources to help people and communities respond. These resources include:

emerging details of a range of online discussions which people can sign up for in January and February 2022
access to online material on NPF4, including on regional and thematic issues
details of the 18 proposed national developments
details of a community grant scheme to support communities respond to the consultation

These resources are all available via the Transforming Planning website.

To submit your response to the draft NPF4 before Thursday 31^st March 2022, please visit the Scottish Government consultation hub.

Alternatively, for further information: