Local Place Plans

Submitting Local Place Plans

Local Place Plans can be submitted at any time and will, once registered, be considered where relevant in the planning process.

As we are currently gathering evidence for the new Highland Local Development Plan (HLDP), the Scottish Government has required us to establish a deadline for registering Local Place Plans so they can be fully considered as evidence for the HLDP.

Based on the current HLDP preparation programme, we advise that Local Place Plan submissions that:

  • pass the validation check before or during January 2026 will be registered and taken into account in the preparation of the HLDP Evidence Report before that Report’s submission to the Gate Check
  • pass the validation check between February and June 2026 will be registered and are likely to be taken into account in the preparation of this HLDP from the outset
  • are validated and registered after June 2026 will be taken into account at the next available opportunity in the local development plan cycle which may, dependent upon timing, include some consideration in the preparation of the HLDP Proposed Plan

A number of Local Place Plans are currently being checked by the Council so that feedback can be provided to the community bodies and any actions required can then be addressed. This latest advice on timescales provides more opportunity for these steps to be completed. 

The minimum time anticipated for The Highland Council checking process for Local Place Plan validation is 10 working days.

We ask that Local Place Plans are submitted at the earliest opportunity, as we may need to come back to you for amendments to your submission during the checking process.

Consultation required

Before a Local Place Plan can be submitted to us, a community body must send its proposed Local Place Plan to:

  • each councillor for the Local Place Plan area
  • any community council any part of whose area is within, or adjoins, the Local Place Plan area

The relevant councillors and community councils must be given no less than 28 days to submit their comments on the proposed Local Place Plan.

The proposed plan must be accompanied by an information notice. You may wish to use our information notice template.

Our list and map of council wards can help you identify the relevant councillors and their contact details.

Our community council boundary maps and list of community council email contacts can help you identify the relevant community councils and their contact details.

Pre-submission checks

Community bodies preparing a Local Place Plan within our Development Plans area can:

Before asking for feedback on a draft or proposed plan, or requesting a pre-submission meeting, we ask that your community body submit a Local Place Plan Preparer Checklist and a Local Place Plan Notification of Intent form.

Ensure the accuracy of your Local Place Plan and supporting documents prior to pre-submission or submission, for example, where numbering and cross-referencing are used in relation to maps and proposals. Errors in your Local Place Plan submission may result in it being returned to you for correction, which may delay the validation and registration process.

The maximum size for an individual file in a Local Place Plan is 24MB. If your file is larger than this, you will need to separate it into multiple files for it to be included on the register.

How to submit a Local Place Plan

When a qualifying community group has finished preparing a Local Place Plan and accompanying information, it can be submitted to us either:

  • by email to lpp@highland.gov.uk (total attachment size limit is 50MB)
  • by post to Development Plans, Highland Council HQ, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX

Local Place Plan validation and registration

When a Local Place Plan has been submitted, we will check it against the Scottish Government requirements for Local Place Plans.

Once a Local Place Plan has passed the validation process, it will be registered and we will take it into account when preparing the Local Development Plan and, where relevant, in the consideration of planning applications.

Cairngorms National Park

Local Place Plans prepared by communities in the Cairngorms National Park are to be submitted to the Cairngorms National Park Authority as part of evidence gathering for the Cairngorms National Park Local Development Plan.

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