Seòmar agus comataidhean

Having heard from Gary Campbell and Andrew Thin, I will come back to Donna Smith. We have got a flavour of your position, but I would like to hear more about what you think about the land management plans and how the local place plan can support crofters and crofting communities. I do not know whether you have much experience of that but, in previous evidence sessions, we have heard concerns about people being asked to do a lot. There are land management plans, local place plans and other statutory requirements. Is it all just bureaucracy, or is it something that is really meaningful and can improve outcomes?

That is no problem. If you have anything to add later, you can always send the committee a note.

Just to be clear, is it the Government’s position that it is working towards compliance with the Aarhus convention?

Yes. Sorry.

We want to reflect on what we hear so that we can write a report and make a recommendation to the Parliament. As we have you here and as you are bringing expertise to the table, I have a question about land management plans. If they make their way into the act—we have to consider that at stage 1—how might the process best take account of crofting communities and local contexts? Do you have views on that?

We are listening to comments about capacity and the time pressures that people face. My final question is to Donna Smith. I was exploring how the land management plan process can take account of crofting communities and local contexts. One proposal is to add a site of community significance. Would that criterion be helpful?

Convener, I have a final question, because I know—

I was going to put some questions on land management plans, but Donna Smith has helpfully put her position on the record. You are saying that the threshold is too high and that you have recommended that it should be 500 hectares.

I am interested in unpacking the idea of flexibility a bit. What would flexibility look like, ideally? I will come to Gary Campbell and Andrew Thin. What do we mean when we say “flexible”?

That is the challenge—how do we future proof legislation? Your newspaper advert example is good, but perhaps that is keeping local newspapers going—I do not know.

I know that you do not want to give a view on what the threshold should be, but are you concerned that there could be unintended consequences of having a threshold at the proposed level or having a threshold at all? Gary Campbell is nodding and Andrew Thin wants to come in.

It is reassuring to hear about the work that is going on in Government, particularly in the community safety minister’s portfolio. However, many stakeholders and communities feel frustrated and perhaps do not feel reassured, because they do not see action and outcomes happening quickly enough—there is lots of reviewing and lots of work, but nothing substantially changes.

The UK is a party to the Aarhus convention, and the Scottish Government has a responsibility to implement the convention in devolved areas. Even if the UK Government is taking longer, is it a priority for the Scottish Government? Given that the human rights bill—which we hoped would have included the right to a healthy environment—is not going ahead as planned, will that right be included in any other Government bill, such as the natural environment bill? Is there a way to tie that together? Obviously, that is really important. If it is not done in this parliamentary session, who knows what will happen next time around.