Applications for, or approval of,
- planning permission and
- listed building consent
do not form a part of the Case Officer consents consultation with Scotland's Environment and Rural Services (SEARS) public bodies. Local planning authorities are responsible for these. It is the task of the applicant to ensure that any required planning permission or listed building consent is in place and to provide the Case Officer with these.
Contract
Applicants will be required to sign the RDC-RP contract which states, "I/we agree to obtain any planning permission or other relevant permissions required for any approved activities before starting any work on those particular approved activities".
Planning permission
Proposals may include activities that require planning permission from the local planning authority. They may also include actions that are required as a condition of a planning permission. Both can be supported under the RDC-Rural Priorities scheme.
Proposals can be approved for funding by the RPAC before any required planning permission has been given by the local planning authority. However, planning permission is required before the relevant works start and no payments will be made until this permission has been granted.
Applicants are encouraged to ensure that all required planning permission is in place prior to the consideration of their Proposal by the RPAC. This will avoid any possibility of costs increasing as a result of changes to the specifications required by the local authority or payments being revoked as a result of planning permission not being in place within the agreed claim year.
Listed Building Consent
What is a listed building?
Listed buildings are buildings that are designated under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 due to their special architectural and / or historic interest. Listed buildings are assigned to one of three categories (A, B and C(S)), according to their relative importance. All listed buildings receive equal legal protection, and protection applies equally to the interior and exterior of all listed buildings regardless of category. The Historic Scotland website provides further information.
Listed building consent must be granted to owners before any alterations, extensions or demolitions of a listed building can proceed. It is applied for in much the same way as planning permission, with an application form and plans of the proposed work submitted to the planning authority. There is no charge for listed building consent.
What works require Listed Building Consent?
Any alterations which may affect the character of a Listed Building require consent. Rural Priorities applicants should contact their local planning authority who will tell them whether they consider the works require listed building consent.
Repairs or routine maintenance using the same materials as already exist will not normally need listed building consent. However, it is always worth checking with the local planning authority before starting repairs to ensure that they agree the materials are like-for-like.
Proposals can be approved for funding by the RPAC before any required listed building consent has been given by the local authority. However, listed building consent is required before the relevant works start and no payments will be made until this permission has been granted.
Listed buildings and Rural Priorities - who to contact and when to contact them
To identify listed buildings:
For Case Officers: in-house GIS should include listed buildings.
For Applicants: listed buildings can be identified using PASTMAP ( http://www.pastmap.org), a map-based system for searching and displaying information on Scotland's historic environment.
Warning: Some buildings are listed as part of a group and the data point in the GIS or PASTMAP may be centred on one of the group buildings only. For example, the listing of a country house may also include offices, steading buildings and lodges, but the data point in PASTMAP is centred on the country house itself. It is always worth a further check with the local planning authority to confirm.
Advice on listed building consent: At any stage of the Rural Priorities process, enquiries relating to works to a listed building or its setting should be addressed to the local planning authority in the first instance.