Seòmar agus comataidhean

Certainly, having seen what you do, the database interface seems to be an incredibly useful tool for local authorities to use to do some of that factoring.

With our second panel of witnesses, we will focus on the role of advice and support for the public, the skills and training that are needed to deliver the draft climate change plan, and the plan’s building outcomes. We are joined in the room by Nicola Barclay, chair, Built Environment—Smarter Transformation, otherwise known as BE-ST; Gillian Campbell, director, Existing Homes Alliance Scotland; Professor Sean Smith, honorary fellow at the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists; and Elaine Waterson, policy manager for Scotland, Energy Saving Trust. Online, we are joined by Ian Hughes, engagement director for Scotland, Construction Industry Training Board. I welcome you all to the meeting. There is no need for you to operate your microphones; we will do that for you.

I have a couple of initial general questions. The first one is for you all to respond to, and I will go to Gillian Campbell first, because I know her. I would be interested to get the Existing Homes Alliance Scotland’s views on whether the draft climate change plan is going to drive the progress that we need to reduce emissions and build on the previous climate change plan.

I want to give Ian Hughes an opportunity to speak, because he is online and it can be difficult to come in. Do you want to come in on this general question, Ian? It is fine if you do not want to.

There is lot more nuance in what you have said. It seems to me that you are getting at the fact that the plan needs to contain granular information so that you can deliver it.

Is that something that needs to be addressed in the climate change plan?

The next item on our agenda is an evidence session on the draft climate change plan, and we are joined today by two panels of witnesses. On the first panel of witnesses, with whom we will focus on the role of local authorities in delivering the draft plan, are: Craig Hatton, climate change lead, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers; Councillor Gail Macgregor, environmental and economy spokesperson, and Robert Nicol, chief officer, environment and economy, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; George Tarvit, director, Sustainable Scotland Network; and Clare Wharmby, co-director, Scottish Climate Intelligence Service. I welcome you all to the meeting. You do not need to turn your microphones on; we will operate them for you.

I will start our questions with a general one about the current position with council delivery on net zero. To what extent do you have the sense that the current draft of the climate change plan would help you drive the progress that needs to happen? Gail, if I could start with you, that would be super.

Robert Nicol wants to come in, and then I will come back in with a supplementary.

I wonder whether the message is filtering across. Gail Macgregor mentioned the £750 million shortfall in social care. Money and budgets are tight and we do not quite know what we will get until next year. One concern that I have had flagged to me is that, in some local authority areas, there are questions about the role of the climate team, which suggests that we are going backwards. Are local authorities getting the message that they need to prioritise this?

Sure. Certainly, climate is one of the Government’s three stated collaborations under the Verity house agreement, so I would hope to see good funding in that space.

Thank you for that.

I have another quick question. The building materials are an issue, but so is what we are building. I have an interest in co-housing. That relates to the aspect that Clare Wharmby brought into the conversation, which is that we do not immediately think, “This is directly related to climate change and reducing our carbon emissions.” The national planning framework 4 talks about placemaking and local neighbourhoods, which, in cities, are 20-minute neighbourhoods. In other communities, it talks about sustainable living. In rural communities, they are not quite 20-minute neighbourhoods.

Co-housing offers the idea of built-in community, which involve a lot more shared resources—shared spaces and shared transport. There is a natural fit between co-housing and things such as car sharing. Mention has been made of the need to look at other countries. Co-housing is embedded in the Danish system—municipalities take it into consideration when they develop their equivalent of local development plans. They say, “This is a place where we believe that co-housing could happen.”

There are some Scottish local authorities that are familiar with co-housing—I would say that Moray Council is one of them. Is that something that you might consider, even if the Scottish Government does not introduce legislation that says that that must be done by local authorities across the board? Might you look into that? Is that a direction of travel that volume house builders could potentially take? In Denmark, co-housing has historically been a grass-roots thing, but construction companies are now coming in and taking it forward.