New figures have revealed the Scottish Government overrules local authorities more often than not when applicants take their planning permission appeals to ministers.
So far this year, 77 of the 145 planning appeals have been “allowed” by the SNP, despite councils originally rejecting the submissions.
That means applicants who refuse to accept the decision of councillors have been sided with on 53 per cent of occasions by ministers, compared to just 41 per cent when the SNP came to power in 2007.
And in 1999, the statistics compiled by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) show only 32 per cent of planning appeals were granted.
Among the decisions appealed to ministers include windfarms, mobile phone masts and housing developments.
The Scottish Conservatives said the figures are proof of the SNP’s centralising agenda, and its culture of distrust towards local decision making.
In 2014, 56 per cent of planning decisions brought to the Scottish Government were overturned, which was itself a 13 per cent jump from the previous year.
In some local authorities the success rate for those who disagree with the council planners is even higher.
In the first half of this year, 19 of the 33 appeals in Aberdeenshire went ahead – a 58 per cent success rate – while in South Ayrshire it was 75 per cent and in South Lanarkshire 71 per cent.
Scottish Conservative MSP Nanette Milne said:
“These figures show quite simply that the SNP does not trust local people and local councils to make decisions for themselves.
“It would rather ministers sitting in Edinburgh offices dictated to rural Scotland what it should and should not permit in towns, villages and communities.
“When decisions made by councils are taken above their heads, they are now being overruled more than 50 per cent of the time, and it’s getting worse.
“The message this sends out is, however unpopular or contentious the planning application, don’t worry if the councils says no, we’ll sort it out for you at Scottish Government level.
“But people want local authorities to have more control on these issues, not less.
“It’s completely unacceptable for the SNP to pursue this centralising mentality.
“It’s no wonder rural Scotland is becoming increasingly annoyed at what it sees as a central belt bias, and it’s time for the Scottish Government to stop hoovering up powers and hand back control to local communities.”