The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 4578 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 30 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
I am sure that that will be heartening news to the people who own the buildings.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 30 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Thank you very much.
That concludes our questions. We have had yet another very helpful panel this morning, and we are certainly getting a much clearer picture of all the different permutations and of how we can make this a good piece of legislation that will meet people’s needs. It is quite challenging, but it has been really good to hear from you.
As previously agreed, we will take the next three items in private. That was the last public item on our agenda, so I now close the public part of the meeting.
11:57 Meeting continued in private until 12:33.Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Thank you. We now proceed to questions from members. I ask the witnesses to indicate to me if they would like to respond to a question or to something that someone else has said. As Paul Turnbull is participating virtually, I ask him to do that by typing an R in the chat function. I ask my colleagues Stephanie Callaghan and Willie Coffey to do that, too.
The intention is that this should be a free-flowing conversation rather than a question-and-answer session. We will see how we do with that. We have quite a few questions and prompts. There is no need for you to manually turn on your microphones, as we will do that for you.
I will begin. I have a few questions, one of which is a big question about the bill. Chris Ashurst, I will direct it at you initially, so that you pay attention when I ask it. The Scottish Government has not publicly consulted on the proposals in the bill. Given that, do you think that the bill addresses the concerns that owners and residents have been raising with the Scottish Government over the past few years?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Yes.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Does anyone else want to come in on the question of whether the bill addresses the concerns or on the issue relating to speedy progress?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Thanks very much for adding those perspectives.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Thanks very much. That is very clear: you need to know about scope and sign-off. Does anyone have anything to add to that?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Is that detail something that needs to be in the bill? Some bills provide enabling powers to do something. Is that something that can be worked out?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
Maybe as we go through our questions we can dig into some of that. That would be great.
I will ask my next question; you can mix my questions together if you have not already spoken. We are aware that house builders have raised concerns in written evidence about the lack of detail—which we have been talking about in general—on the single building assessment. Could you explain briefly those concerns and outline how they could be addressed?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 23 January 2024
Ariane Burgess
I will ask a quick supplementary question. When you describe that concern, what are you imagining that a developer might be asked to go back in to do several months later? Do you have anything in mind that would allow us to understand it a bit more?