Scottish planning powers are at the centre of a potentially sweeping local government shake-up, with strategic planning proposed for 6 to 10 regional authorities while some local decisions could sit with 120 to 160 community authorities.
The Scottish Government paper, published on 21st September 2026, expressly names householder planning applications among the decisions that could move closer to community level. Strategic planning would instead sit at regional level alongside housing, economic development and parts of transport.
Nothing has transferred. Ministers describe the document as an opening proposition for discussion, with the aim of agreeing a broad direction before the end of 2026. Existing councils and planning authorities continue to exercise their current functions.
How Scottish planning powers could be divided
The scale of the proposition is substantial. The Government suggests replacing current local government arrangements with 6 to 10 regional authorities focused on strategic decisions and 120 to 160 community authorities focused on local decisions.
Community authorities would sit within regional boundaries and could be based around identifiable towns, districts, islands or other recognised communities. Councillors would continue to be elected at the present ward level, but would sit on both the relevant community authority and regional authority.
For planning, the proposed division is unusually tangible. The Scottish Government reform proposition places strategic planning alongside a national planning hub at regional level. At community level, it expressly identifies householder planning applications, community planning, licensing, historic environment and open-space management, and town-centre regeneration as examples of decisions that could sit closer to their local impact.
That is why the paper matters to planning professionals now. It is not merely a debate about council boundaries. It raises the prospect of different tiers dealing with different parts of the planning workload.
Planning would sit beside housing, transport and economic development
The proposed regional tier is intended to handle more than planning. Ministers suggest an enhanced role in regional economic development and business support, housing with some responsibilities shared with More Homes Scotland, employability and relevant transport functions.
Regional Transport Partnerships are specifically mentioned, together with the possibility that some functions currently held by Transport Scotland could move into the regional structure.
Putting strategic planning in that same tier could bring decisions about growth, housing, infrastructure, transport and regeneration into a more closely aligned regional framework. The detail, including geographical boundaries and precisely which statutory powers would move, has not yet been settled.
The proposal arrives only weeks after the Government confirmed its new Major Projects Office, another strand of the wider attempt to change how strategically important development is coordinated.
This is a proposition, not a transfer of planning powers
The caveat is important. The document repeatedly says the Government is entering the discussion with an open mind and describes the model as a starting point for debate rather than its final view.
Scotland currently has 32 councils, with two national park authorities also exercising planning functions. Those bodies have not lost any planning powers because of this paper, and applicants should continue to use the existing statutory routes.
The September proposition itself creates no new authority and transfers no statutory function. The paper does not set out a Bill timetable. In practice, replacing statutory local authorities and reallocating statutory planning responsibilities would require legislation before new arrangements could operate.
The paper also proposes bespoke arrangements for island communities rather than assuming the same two-tier model everywhere. Ministers say the scope of Island Single Authority Models would be developed with the island communities themselves.
COSLA warns against predetermined reform
COSLA’s most recent public position predates the detailed 21st September proposition, but it sets a clear marker for the discussions ahead.
On 11th September, COSLA said it would engage constructively in the Government’s three-month dialogue, while stressing that participation should not be taken as agreement to a predetermined structure or transfer of responsibilities.
Its position was that reform should be developed jointly with local government, respect local democracy and be clear about financial consequences. That leaves plenty of scope for argument over where strategic and local planning functions should ultimately sit.
Government wants a direction agreed by the end of 2026
The immediate timetable is political and administrative rather than legislative. The Government says it wants intensive engagement over the coming weeks and months and hopes to reach a shared direction before the end of 2026, with early decisions capable of informing the next Scottish Budget.
More detailed proposals are then expected to be developed for consideration by Parliament, local authorities and communities. The paper does not set a date for legislation or for any new authority to begin operating.
For planning, the question to watch is whether the broad split survives that process: strategic planning and infrastructure at regional scale, with selected everyday decisions moving much closer to communities.
The timing is notable because planning reform is also being pressed from outside government. In a separate development, CBI Scotland has published a package of proposed changes covering planning fees, condition discharge, shared services and complex consents.
Planning Geek has also covered Scotland’s recent move to give greater weight to Proposed Local Development Plans, another change affecting how the country’s planning system is evolving in practice.
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