Official Report 857KB pdf
Town and Country Planning (Masterplan Consent Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (SSI 2024/253)
Town and Country Planning (Amendment of Local Development Plan) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (SSI 2024/250)
The next item on our agenda is consideration of two negative instruments. The committee considered those instruments as part of a package of instruments at its meeting last week when it took evidence from the Minister for Public Finance. At that time, the committee agreed to reflect on the evidence that it had heard and to return the instruments this week. As they are negative instruments, there is no requirement for the committee to make any recommendations. No other member has any comments on the instruments, but I am quite keen to reflect on them.
The amendment of the local development plan is very welcome. It was good to hear the Minister for Public Finance make the point that there could be an opportunity for communities to be able to introduce local place plans that have not yet been developed through the amending process. I was heartened to hear that.
I welcome the streamlining of the masterplan consent areas regulations, but it is very important that we ensure that that does not override the requirement to attend to an urgent issue around biodiversity, which should be a primary, priority policy in the national planning framework.
I just want to get on the record that, although masterplan consent areas are important with regard to some of the issues that we have been talking about around housing and infrastructure, we cannot forget the need to ensure that we attend to our degraded biodiversity, otherwise we will create knock-on problems for future generations.
With that, are members agreed that the committee does not wish to make any other recommendations in relation to those instruments?
Members indicated agreement.
12:04 Meeting continued in private until 12:43.Air ais
Housing Emergency