Section 75 is Scotland's principal statutory planning-obligation mechanism.

Under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, an obligation can restrict or regulate development or land use, require operations or activities, require land to be used in a specified way, and/or require payments. Where the statutory requirements are met and the obligation is registered, it can bind future owners or occupiers.

The current Scottish Government guidance is Circular 4/2025.

It replaced the older policy framework and emphasises that an obligation should not be used where the issue can appropriately be resolved another way. The authority should consider conditions first, then suitable alternative legal agreements, before relying on a planning obligation where that is necessary.

Test necessity and connection to the development.

Campaigners should identify the planning problem the obligation is intended to solve, the relevant policy basis, the obligation required and why a condition or another mechanism would not adequately secure it.

Read the heads of terms as well as the final agreement.

Current Scottish guidance expects the principal components of an obligation to be identified when an authority is considering a minded-to-grant position. If a campaign depends on a particular obligation, check that the heads of terms actually contain it.

Remember that obligations can later be modified or discharged through the statutory process.

Section 75A provides a route for a person against whom an obligation is enforceable to seek modification or discharge. That is another reason to understand the actual legal wording rather than treating an obligation as an informal promise.

Sources and further information

Scottish Government - Planning Circular 4/2025: Planning obligations and good neighbour agreements

Last checked: 26 September 2026

A Good Neighbour Agreement is a distinct statutory mechanism.

Scottish Government Circular 4/2025 explains that a GNA under section 75D is entered into between a person such as a landowner or developer and a qualifying community body, rather than being the same arrangement as a planning obligation between the relevant parties under section 75.

Do not confuse community engagement with the planning authority's regulatory controls.

A GNA may address matters of importance to a community, but a decision-maker should still secure planning mitigation through the mechanism appropriate to the legal and policy issue.

Check whether the measure relied upon in the planning decision is actually secured by the planning system.

If an applicant points to a voluntary community arrangement, identify whether the claimed mitigation is contained in a condition, section 75 obligation or other enforceable mechanism relevant to the decision.

Keep community benefits separate from mitigation of planning harm.

A payment or voluntary benefit does not automatically answer a landscape, ecological, noise, traffic or other planning impact. The existing Knowledge Base separately explains community benefits; the purpose of this article is to distinguish the legal mechanisms.

Sources and further information

Scottish Government - Planning Circular 4/2025: Planning obligations and good neighbour agreements

Last checked: 26 September 2026

Read conditions as the operational rulebook for the consent.

For a large energy project, conditions can govern commencement, design parameters, micro-siting, construction, traffic, noise, ecology, peat, drainage, archaeology, aviation, restoration and decommissioning. Their importance can be comparable to the narrative reasoning in the decision.

Map each unresolved objection issue to the proposed condition said to address it.

If the applicant or consultee says an effect can be controlled by condition, record the exact draft wording. Apply the six tests and ask whether the condition actually secures the mitigation assumed by the assessment.

Check what is deferred to later approval.

Identify management plans, schemes, surveys or specifications that will only be produced after consent. Distinguish legitimate detailed implementation from a fundamental question whose acceptability has not yet been demonstrated.

Check consultation requirements built into the condition.

Some conditions require the approval of Scottish Ministers or another authority after consultation with a named body. Do not assume that a campaign group or the wider public will automatically be consulted on every post-consent submission unless the applicable process provides for it.

Keep a condition tracker if consent is granted.

Record condition number, requirement, trigger, approving authority, consultation body, submission, approval and compliance evidence. That converts the decision notice into a practical monitoring document.

Sources and further information

Scottish Government - Planning Circular 4/1998: The use of conditions in planning permissions

Last checked: 26 September 2026