Scottish Government's draft NPF4 - Trust response

The Scottish Government has published its draft Fourth National Planning Framework. This is intended to be a national plan to guide future development in Scotland that helps the country to achieve its net zero by 2045 goal.

As drafted, the text represents a shift in aspiration and tone from a time when national planning policy was expressed as a spatial expression for economic growth. Now, the priorities have to be different; they have to include climate, biodiversity, health and inclusion. 

The preparation of the draft began with a 'Call for Ideas' consultation in 2020, followed by a Position Statement on the draft NPF4 published in 2021, and further opportunity to comment. The Trust has engaged with each consultation opportunity and attended meetings with the Scottish Government on NPF4 as a member of Scottish Environment LINK.

We have reviewed the draft policies in the NPF4 document (Part 3) from the perspective of wild places, improving biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions. We need policies that require development proposals to demonstrate how they will address (for example, through design for nature, innovation, careful siting, construction materials) both the climate and biodiversity emergencies. We also need policies that provide clear protections to nature-rich, wild places, such as peatlands and Scotland's Wild Land Areas, in addition to continued protections for sites designated for nature and landscape. These are national natural assets for carbon storage and nature recovery as well as our health and wellbeing.

The Trust's response to the consultation is available to download below.