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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 26 November 2024
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Displaying 971 contributions

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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

Ian Woolard, do you have anything to add?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

That is all from me, unless anybody else wants to come in.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

My constituency is East Lothian, which probably has the longest waiting time in all of Scotland, so the matter is an interest of mine. The previous panel talked about a community garden in Dumbarton. There are also allotments that are available not through the council but through a private arrangement, with which there has been a problem.

We have talked about waiting lists and trigger points; you have both mentioned waiting times. Could the information be tracked nationally? The question is first for Ian Woolard, then APSE, because the second part of my question is about benchmarking among councils, although that would not be to compare apples with apples. Ian, will you comment on information being tracked nationally? Where is Edinburgh, compared with other local authorities. Would such tracking be a useful exercise?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

Would there be a benefit in tracking nationally how many people are on the waiting lists in each area? Section 112 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 talks about people being taken off the waiting list once they have been on it for five years. What help is there for people who are on waiting lists to look at alternatives that are out there? Those questions are really about how you manage your waiting lists. I will come to Sandy Paterson first.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

You must be reading my mind. My next question is about community growing projects and allotment associations having access to funding. Are you aware of who the big funders are and the role of the Scottish Government in funding? In relation to part 9 of the 2015 act, do you have any thoughts on support from the Scottish Government? What support is there from funders and is there anything else that the Scottish Government could do in terms of broader support?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

The next part of the question was about what help is available for projects such as community growing projects. What support and funding, as well as logistical help, is available to somebody who is looking to take on an allotment or a community garden? What more could the Scottish Government do to help you in that regard? I invite Sandy Paterson and Sinclair Laing to go first.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

Does Peter Duncan want to come in? I will also bring in APSE on benchmarking and comparisons between councils.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

Does Peter Duncan have anything to add?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 7 June 2022

Paul McLennan

I was going to come on to that in my next question. I saw Paul O’Brien nodding his head a couple of times when we were talking about benchmarking, the advantages of which we have heard about. Do you want to talk about that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Allotments

Meeting date: 31 May 2022

Paul McLennan

I have three questions, but I will try to wrap them up into one, because I am conscious of time. When we visited Leith community croft last week, a few issues came up. One was about encouraging volunteering, particularly in areas where there are low levels of volunteering. A second issue is how that fits into the community wealth building agenda.

Another issue, which has been touched on, is where planning comes in. We have been discussing NPF4, and a lot of local authorities are preparing their local development plans, in which they should be looking at land for allotments. New developments have been mentioned, but we need to go beyond that. Do the witnesses have anything to add on planning?

My questions are about volunteering, community wealth building and planning in relation to community organisations, but the witnesses can add anything that they would like to that.