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Displaying 4578 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
That concludes our questions. It has been a very useful session, minister. It was great to hear that you were paying attention to our previous sessions, as you pulled out a lot of things from those conversations. A highlight for me was the work that you set out at the beginning on data sets and getting information. We are planning to hold these events annually, so there will be at least one more such meeting. Our last one will probably be next year, before we move to 2026. It will be interesting to see, at that point, what you have gathered in those data sets. By then, the planning fees consultation and the work on masterplan consent areas will be all done, so it will be interesting to see how those things start to come into play with NPF4. You have welcomed and taken on board the other issues that we have raised, which is very much appreciated. It was good to see you today. Thanks so much for coming.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
It is great to get clarity on that simplicity and to hear that a plan could be just a couple of A4 sheets of paper and a map.
We will go back to the issue of brownfields, as members have a couple of supplementary questions on that, but, before we do so, I want to go back to Ivan McKee’s point about data gathering. In relation to housing, I have picked up in conversation with planning authorities that it might be good to track the number of consents given, whether the housing is moving forward and, if not, why it has stalled.
Could the Scottish Government consider some way in which planning authorities could track that and have a feedback mechanism that allows developers to say why they have not got on site and that kind of thing? Apparently, that is happening across the country, and we really need the housing to happen. If consent is being given, which is already a challenging process, but we are not getting the development that is needed, that might be another issue for the Government to pick up in its data tracking.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
On the back of Pam Gosal’s question on the housing emergency and NPF4, I want to take us down a tributary on rural housing, so bear with me.
I will ask about a couple of issues that have been raised with me. The first is that the language around rural groupings and clusters has been removed from NPF4. That has been raised as a concern, because it means that those are not identified in NPF4 and, therefore, it is harder for rural housing to be taken forward. Has that come across?
The second issue is about infill sites. I have spoken with an architect in a design and build company that used to work with infill sites and extension sites. In one particular planning authority, those no longer seem to be an avenue. As a result, three houses will not now be built. You will be aware that, in a rural community, one or two houses can be quite critical.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
Another issue on rural housing that was raised is what happens if all your area is peat. How do you tackle that? That is maybe something else to gather data on.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
It is good to hear that you are across that.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
When Craig McLaren was with us, I raised the point that people, including architects and developers, are putting through planning applications but then not hearing back in any way, shape or form, either in a timely manner or at all. He talked about the whole thing as being about customer care. We need a better communication system there. To use an analogy, when I am on the train commuting from here to home and we are stopped, I like it if the conductor actually tells us why we are stopped. It takes away the anxiety of wondering why we are stopped and how long for. If we could get that communication piece into the system, it could help quite a bit.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
As that was the final public item on our agenda, I close the public part of our meeting.
10:59 Meeting continued in private until 11:57.Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
How does the masterplan consent area work with the LDP? How do they fit together?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
Thank you for going into that detail. Willie Coffey has a number of questions.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 21 May 2024
Ariane Burgess
Yes. The convener is asking permission to ask a supplementary question. [Laughter.]
I thank Willie Coffey for mentioning the desire of communities to feed back. Have you picked up on the work of Planning Democracy? I know that Andy Kinnaird was at the event that it held. It has proposed a citizen science type of monitoring of NPF4 and, specifically, the biodiversity aspect. Have you thought about setting up some way in which that organisation could participate in that?