Research published by the planning body has outlined 49 new and unfunded duties that the Act places on planning authorities and it estimates that this could cost between £12.2m and £59.1m to deliver.

This comes when planning departments are already under severe financial pressures having lost a quarter of staff and 40% of their budgets over the last decade, the report added.

RTPI Scotland is now calling for an urgent debate on how planning departments are funded in the future.

RTPI Scotland convenor Julia Frost said: “This analysis shows that we need significant investment in planning services just to make sure that they comply with the law. This, combined with the fact that planning has suffered budget cuts more severely than other local government functions, means that we need an open and honest debate on how we resource planning services in the future.

“If we don’t give planners the time and resources to process planning applications, and pro-actively create plans for the future, we won’t be able to build new homes, regenerate our town centres or protect our most valuable landscapes and buildings.”

RTPI Scotland’s new research calls on the Scottish Government to consider the costs of implementing each of the new duties and to agree a resource plan when introducing them through secondary legislation or guidance. In addition, it requests clarity on where funding will come from to support communities to prepare Local Place Plans.

The research also calls on local authorities to ensure that any revenue generated from processing planning applications is reinvested in the planning service.

The analysis has also been highlighted in RTPI Scotland’s submission to the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into the future sustainability of local government.