West Lothian Council delivers

Planning and Building Standards

 

Planning and Building Standards provides the following services:

Building Standards
Building Standards is part of the council's Planning and Economic Development service, and is based in the County Buildings, Linlithgow.

We have a wide range of responsibilities that relate to almost all building and alteration works to ALL types of property. The overriding purpose of Building Standards is to safeguard people in and around buildings.

Building Standards is independent from the building industry and is therefore an unbiased and neutral body.

We hope the information contained in the following pages will assist you in making an application for a building warrant, obtaining acceptance of a completion certificate, and understanding the role of Building Standards.

We also wish to make you aware of the need for regular maintenance of your property, not only to save you from unexpected and costly bills, but importantly to ensure that it does not pose a danger to the public.

We provide advice, guidance, and forms on building warrants, completion certificates, letters of comfort, dangerous buildings, buildings in serious disrepair, unauthorised works, safety at sports grounds, raised structures, licensing, and public entertainment licences.

Building Standards' customer information contains uptodate information on the new building standards system and our performance levels.

Development Management

Development Management is the process, carried out by West Lothian Council, by which decisions are made on applications for planning permission, and the process by which enforcement action is taken to remedy unauthorised development. The process is governed by legislation, Scottish Government guidance, the Edinburgh and Lothians Structure Plan (new window) , the West Lothian Local Plan (new window) and supplementary planning guidance (SPGs) .

The planning system in Scotland is undergoing significant changes. The Scottish Government is seeking to modernise the system, in order to provide a system that is efficient, fit for purpose, inclusive, and sustainable. The Planning Etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 has made significant amendments to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. The Act, implementation schedule, and related guidance can be viewed on the Scottish Government's website . The procedures by which planning applications are dealt with have also been amended by the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008.

Major changes to the procedures and regulations surrounding the making of planning applications came into place on 3 August 2009.

These include:

• Changes to the hierarchy of planning applications, which are now termed national, major and local applications;
• A reduction in the duration of planning permission to the three years,
• A change in the amount of time the council has to consider the application (two months for local applications, four months for major applications);
• The requirement for major applications to have design and access statements, along with pre-application consultation

 

Development Planning and Environment

The main functions of this service are to:

Provide advice on national plan policy guidance, structure plans, local plans, listed buildings, conservation areas, information & statistics and environmental issues. In particular, our service undertakes the following work:

Reviewing, monitoring and implementing the statutory Development Plan Policy for the West Lothian Council area (principally the approved Edinburgh and the Lothian Structure Plan 2015, and the adopted West Lothian Local Plan 2009), and also working on the replacement plans for both, namely the South East Scotland Strategic Development Plan and West Lothian Local Development Plan, and implement associated planning based initiatives;

Providing design and planning guidance for new developments, through development briefs and landscaping projects as well as supporting the conservation of the built heritage;

Promoting sustainable development and environmental action within the council and the wider community;

Development and implementation of supplementary planning guidance, including developer contributions to secure key infrastructure for the council, including development of new schools and extensions and cemeteries;

Promoting greater access to the countryside and the development of footpath networks, through development of a Core Path Plan;

Supporting and promoting the conservation of local biodiversity through the development and implementation of the Biodiversity Action Plan;

Providing assessment of proposals relating to contaminated land; and

Development of a carbon management plan.

Customer care and complaints

We have a procedure for dealing with any formal comments or complaints relating to our service and have produced a statement of the level of care customers can expect.

• Customer Care Focus Strategy 2011

 

Updated 23/11/11