Joint Working Agreement

Jim MacDonald, Deputy Chief Inspector, writes on the Joint Working Agreements

As part of our efforts to improve our partnership with local authorities we launched a Joint Working Agreement this summer.  This clearly lays out the roles that Historic Scotland and planning authorities need to play by in managing the historic environment effectively.

The agreement focuses on the different designations and the statutory casework and consultations that arise out of these.  The purpose of this agreement is to support planning authorities in providing advice and making decisions locally. Where it is  appropriate that Historic Scotland be involved, it is best, to involve us early in the development planning and management process where we can add value.  In this way we hope to work more effectively together to deliver the better management of the historic environment, supporting planning reform and ensuring that the historic environment contributes to Scotland’s sustainable economic growth.

So far 17 out of Scotland’s 34 planning authorities have either signed up to the agreement or indicated that they will do so shortly. We will meet with planning authorities at least annually to review our joint working and deal with issues as they arise and will also review the contents of the Joint Working Agreement and update it where appropriate.  The finalised agreement can be found below. We would be interested to hear from you on any aspect of this important project so if you have anything to say please let Jim know at jim.macdonald@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.


Joint Working Agreement [pdf,158kb]