Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972

PART I Administration

1 Local planning authorities

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section the local planning authority for the purposes of this Act shall be—

(a) in the case of a large burgh, the town council;

(b) in the case of a county (including, subject as after-mentioned, any small burghs therein), the county council or, in the case of a county combined with another county for the purposes mentioned in section 118(1) of the [1947 c. 43.] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947, the joint county council of the combined county; and

(c) in the case of a small burgh, to the town council of which powers and duties have been transferred under section 2(2) of the [1932 c. 49.] Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1932, the town council,

and the district of the local planning authority shall be the burgh or the county or the combined county, as the case may be.

(2) Two or more local planning authorities may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, combine for any of the purposes of any provision of this Act on such terms and conditions as may be agreed between them and approved by the Secretary of State.

(3) If it appears to the Secretary of State that the combination of any local planning authority with any other local planning authority or authorities for any of the purposes of any provision of this Act would be of public or local advantage he may make an order combining those authorities as respects their districts or parts thereof for such of the purposes aforesaid as are specified in the order:

Provided that the Secretary of State shall not make such an order except after holding a local inquiry unless all the authorities concerned have consented to the making of the order.

(4) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the combination of authorities under this section.

2 Joint advisory committees and sub-committees

The provisions of Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the establishment and functions of—

(a) joint advisory committees of local planning authorities;

(b) sub-committees of such committees and of planning committees described in paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to this Act; and

(c) sub-committees of joint planning committees appointed in pursuance of any combination of local planning authorities under section 1 of this Act.

3 Delegation of functions to officers of local authorities

(1) A local planning authority may delegate to any officer of the authority who in their opinion is suitably qualified or experienced for the purpose the function of determining all or any, or a specified class, of the following applications, that is to say—

(a) an application for planning permission under Part III of this Act;

(b) an application for an approval required by a development order or by a condition imposed on the grant of planning permission;

(c) an application for a determination under section 51 of this Act of the questions whether the carrying out of operations on land or the making of any change in the use of land constitutes or involves development of the land and, if so, whether an application for planning permission in respect thereof is required having regard to the provisions of the development order;

(d) an application for consent under an order under section 58 of this Act to the cutting down, topping, lopping or destruction of trees;

(e) an application for consent under regulations under section 61 of this Act to the display of advertisements;

(f) an application for an established use certificate under section 90 of this Act.

(2) A delegation made by a local authority under this section to an officer of theirs—

(a) shall be made to the officer by name;

(b) may be made with or without restrictions or conditions; and

(c) may be withdrawn at any time by the delegating authority (either generally or in respect of a particular application), without prejudice to anything previously done by the officer thereunder.

(3) Where a local authority have under this section delegated to an officer of theirs the function of determining applications, and the officer so requests in the case of any application specified by him, the delegating authority shall themselves, instead of him, determine the application.

(4) Where any functions have under this section been delegated to an officer of a local authority, any determination by him of such an application as is referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall, if it is notified in writing to the applicant, be treated for all purposes as a determination of the delegating authority.

(5) Where an action has been brought against an officer of a local authority in respect of an act done by him in the discharge or purported discharge of functions delegated to him under this section and the circumstances are such that he is not legally entitled to require the delegating authority to indemnify him, that authority may nevertheless indemnify him against the whole or part of any damages and expenses which he may have been ordered to pay or may have incurred, if they are satisfied that he honestly believed that the act complained of was done in the discharge of those functions and that his duty required or entitled him to do it.

(6) In relation to any functions delegated under this section by a local authority to an officer of theirs, any reference to the local planning authority in any enactment relating to those functions shall (subject to the terms of the delegation and so far as the context does not otherwise require) be construed as including a reference to that officer.