SPEL Journal (Scottish Planning & Environmental Law) has celebrated an impressive milestone this month, with the publication of its 200th issue.

Since 1980 the journal and associated annual conference have provided commentary and discussion of topical subjects, new legislation and significant court cases and planning appeal decisions.

Clearly, this would not have been possible without the contributions and support of numerous people over the years, including the Journal’s editors, editorial board members, contributors, reviewers, and readers.

Decades of change

When first established, the journal was known as “Scottish Planning Law and Practice”. As the emerging field of environmental law became increasingly linked to planning, the focus of the journal changed to reflect this.

Since its launch, the journal has traced the evolution of planning and environmental law. The 1980s were marked by a move to deregulation in planning across the UK. There was also a focus on urban regeneration and housing rehabilitation and improvement in Scotland’s urban areas. Scotland saw changes to environmental protection with National Scenic Areas established within planning legislation in 1980.

In the 1990s, major changes came with the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 which established the primacy of the Development Plan (Local Plans and Structure Plans) to guide future patterns of development. Environmental controls also increased due to the influence of the European Union.

In the 2000s there was an increasing emphasis on trying to integrate the historic environment into planning policy development. Scotland’s two national parks were created (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs in 2002 and the Cairngorms in 2003). In the mid and late 2000s we began to see a focus on climate change and placemaking, as well as increasing legal activity around planning for wind farms, and more recently fracking. In 2003, the Local Government in Scotland Act gave a statutory basis to community planning. The 2006 Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act brought about significant modernisation of the planning system.

Scotland’s third National Planning Framework was laid before the Scottish Parliament in 2014, along with Scottish Planning Policy which set out detailed planning guidance. In recent years, planning policy has been increasingly linked to economic policy, for example in the City Regions and inclusive growth agendas. The process of reviewing the National Planning Framework is underway.

August 2020 issue

SPEL Journal is read by decision makers in Scottish planning authorities, planning law practices, planning consultancies, architects, surveyors, civil engineers, environmental managers and developers across Scotland. It is also valued by many practitioners outside of Scotland who wish to keep abreast of developments.

The August 2020 issue has a typically varied range of articles. There is a discussion of new rules which allow group proceedings in Scottish courts from 31 July and whether this may lead to environmental class actions. The article notes that the group proceedings rules do not apply to judicial review or statutory appeal proceedings, which make up the majority of planning and environmental litigation in Scotland, so the impact could be limited.

Another two articles in the issue explore the consequences of the Court of Session’s “Gladman” decision in July, which relates to the policy presumption in favour of sustainable development within the current Scotland Planning Policy (SPP). The original planning application was for housing development in Kilmacolm.

A long tradition of supporting the professions

Unfortunately the 40th annual SPEL Conference, which was due to be held in September, has had to be postponed until next year. Until then, you can rely on SPEL Journal to continue its coverage of Scottish planning and environmental law.

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Scottish Planning and Environmental Law Journal is published every two months. An annual subscription to SPEL Journal is £170.

For further details or a sample copy, please contact Heather Cameron at heather.cameron@Idoxgroup.com.