Housing
Housing has a long-term impact on Scotland's urban and rural landscape. It also has an important role to play in the health and well-being of its people and communities and helps to deliver sustainable economic growth.
Planning helps to deliver the Scottish Government's key housing policy objectives on quality homes and higher environmental standards. It does so by identifying the land needed to support the right kinds of houses in the right places to meet both housing need and market demand across all tenures.
Policy summary
Scottish Planning Policy 3 - Planning for Homes (2008) replaces the 2003 version, removes PAN 38 and brings Planning for Homes into line with the modernisation of the planning system, reflecting the Scottish Government's housing agenda. SPP 3 provides key policy guidance on:
- the identification of housing need and demand on a more consistent and robust basis through joint working between local authorities and a range of partners;
- the use of the planning system to facilitate the construction of well-designed, good-quality housing in sustainable locations;
- the allocation of a generous supply of land to meet identified housing requirements across all tenures, including affordable housing;
- mechanisms to help ensure that planned housing is built, including quick and efficient review of development plans to enable the maintenance of a 5-year effective land supply; all of which supports
- the creation of high-quality places, which support the development of sustainable communities.
A letter from the Chief Planner accompanies SPP 3.
The revised SPP 3 is part of a new policy and delivery framework designed to improve the operation and responsiveness of Scotland's housing system. The Scottish Government has published local housing strategy guidance and housing need and demand assessment guidance which will assist in shaping local authorities' housing strategies and identifying the housing requirement. SPP 3 will be the main mechanism through which land for housing requirements, and new houses themselves, will be delivered, and, along with the local housing strategy guidance and the housing need and demand assessment guidance, it should be considered part of this suite of guidance.
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