Highland Local Development Plan

A new plan for the Highlands

We are preparing a new Local Development Plan for the Highlands.

Local development plans shape how places change in the future, including where development should and should not happen.

We are gathering the evidence we need to write the Highland Local Development Plan (HLDP).

Evidence report

We have drafted our formal Evidence Report, which, when complete and approved by Full Council, will be submitted to Scottish Ministers in 2026.

You can find out more by reading our November 2025 and February 2026 committee reports and the Evidence Report chapters.

  • the Evidence Report chapters finalised so far
    • Chapter 1 - Introduction
    • Chapter 2 - Area Profiles and Key Areas of Change
    • Chapter 4 - Climate Change and Energy
    • Chapter 5 - Nature and Environment
    • Chapter 6 - Coastal Development and Aquaculture
    • Chapter 7 - Flood Risk Management
    • Chapter 8 - Economy, Business, Touism and Productive Places
    • Chapter 9 - Housing
    • Chapter 10 - Transport
    • Chaoter 11 - Infrastructure
    • Chapter 12 - Historic Assets, Brownfield Land and Empty Buildings
    • Chapter 13 - Design, Wellbeing, Local Living and Placemaking
    • Chapter 14 - Performance of the Plan

View the report documents

Call for development sites

We ran a call for development sites between 31 January and 2 May 2025. Landowners, developers and others suggested sites for us to consider for inclusion in the new HLDP.

We will consider all sites, but we will not decide which sites to include until early to mid-2027. Sites included in the Proposed Plan will then be subject to a statutory public consultation and objection process.

View suggested sites

There is no statutory opportunity to comment on any submission at this stage in the plan process

Evidence papers

We also consulted on our Evidence Papers over the same period.

View our evidence

The evidence documents contained a few factual errors. A list of the corrected errors is available.

We are now taking into account the feedback received and are preparing the formal Evidence Report.

National context

The national context for the new HLDP is set out in National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

As required by NPF4, we are aiming for the HLDP to be:

  • place-based, so that it is relevant, accessible, and useful to people with an interest in their place
  • developed in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders
  • based on robust evidence, so that it is deliverable

Local Place Plans

We have prepared advice and guidance for community bodies preparing Local Place Plans, and we continue to check and register these plans.

Development Plans Newsletter

Our Development Plans Newsletter gives future HLDP stages and timescales. Note that the committee reports linked above provide revised timetables.

Further engagement opportunities will be announced on this page.

Page last modified: 5 February 2026