How can you find out about planning decisions?
There are several ways you can find out about decisions that have been made on planning applications –
Finding out about an individual application
If you have a specific application that you are interested in, you can find details of the application and any decisions made by finding it in our online planning and building standards system. You can use either the simple search, advanced search or map search to find the application. If a decision has been made on the application, you will be able to see the decision there.
If you would like to be kept up to date with the progress of particular applications, you can register on our online system, and use the “track” option -
Using Track Search means you will be notified by email whenever an application changes in status. To track an application, find the application in the system, and click on the "track" button - this will add it to your "tracked applications" in your profile. You will then get email alerts about the progress of that application, and decisions made.
Examples of changes in status -
- When the Planning Officer is considering the application the status will be Pending Consideration
- Once the Officer submits his recommendation to a Senior Officer the status will change to Pending Decision
- When the final decision has been made the status will change to Application Permitted or Application Refused or Permitted Development
- The status can also change if an Appeal is lodged against the decision or conditions and if the application is Withdrawn by the applicant
You can stop tracking applications at any time by logging in and going in to your profile.
Finding out about all decisions
To find out about any decisions made in a particular time period or in a specific area, you can do this by searching in our weekly and monthly lists of applications –
To find the application decided, just select your search criteria (you can filter your search by status, community council, electoral ward and week / month), and select “decided in this week / month” to view the full list of applications. If you have registered with the system, you can save this search by clicking on the "save search" button which will appear above your search results. This means you will get email alerts when new results appear for this search.
Finding out about delegated decisions
You can view the monthly area lists of delegated planning decisions made by Argyll and Bute’s planning officers.
- Bute and Cowal
- Helensburgh and Lomond
- Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islay
- Oban, Lorn and the Isles
- Major applications - All areas
Full details of all the applications can be accessed via Public Access.
Finding out about decisions made at the Planning, Protective Services, and Licensing Committee (PPSL).
Each month, we publish the decisions made at the latest PPSL committee on the website
The types of applications that are decided at the PPSL committee are:
- Applications where the council, senior officer or councillor has an interest (e.g. landowner, applicant, etc.)
- Any application that receives more than 10 individual objections on planning related matters
- Any application that requires an Area Capacity Evaluation (ACE)
- Major Planning applications where there is a departure from the Local Plan
- Any application that is deemed to be in the public interest
How to sign up for alerts about applications and decisions that you are interested in
If you register for an account on our online planning and building standards system, you can get alerts about new applications, changes of status on applications, and anything new in the area you are interested in.
When you have registered, you can use the "track" and "save search" options to get email alerts about changes to the applications you are interested in. You can also log in to your account at any time to edit your profile, and check on your tracked applications or saved searches.
If you want to make a comment on an application, you will need to register as anonymous comments cannot be accepted. You will automatically be kept up to date with the progress of any applications you have commented on.