The Scottish Government has published a discussion paper on an infrastructure levy for Scotland.
This is the first stage in fulfilling the commitment in the Programme for Government 2023-24 to implement new infrastructure levy regulations under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 by Spring 2026.
Under the Act, an infrastructure levy is a charge payable to a local authority on development in that local authority’s area, to be spent on the provision of infrastructure. This is intended to give local authorities the option to secure a stream of funding for infrastructure which is needed to support growth on a wider scale than individual developments, complementing s.75 planning obligations.
The powers to make infrastructure levy regulations are broad and could allow for a range of different approaches. The paper describes existing mechanisms for securing developer obligations and summarises previous research and reviews relevant to the ILS. It then sets out the various aspects of the levy which regulations would need to consider, with a range of options and points for discussion.
The Scottish Government said it is keen to have an open and constructive discussion with practitioners from different sectors about options for the operation of the levy and their advantages and disadvantages. This will feed into the development of draft Regulations which will be subject to a full public consultation in 2025.
If you would like to arrange a discussion with the Scottish Government team or submit any comments on the discussion points, please contact Infrastructure.Levy@gov.scot.
Discussions need to be concluded and any comments must be submitted by 30 September 2024.
