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In its response to the petition, the Scottish Government stated that it has a “tailored approach” to inshore management. What are your thoughts on what that means? Is the approach tailored to achieving ecosystem management and good environmental status for the foreseeable future?

I would like to get a bit more detail on the stuff that you have already started to touch on. You said that a limit would not necessarily extend around Scotland as a blanket approach. I heard recently, for example, that it might not be needed in Shetland, because the sea bed is already so abraded by a dynamic sea.

I am also interested in hearing whether there are ways other than distance in which we could set a limit. I have heard something about measuring by depth; you have talked about that a bit. For example, you said that creelers go out to 12 miles on the east coast, but only 3 miles on the west coast.

Can I clarify that, when you are talking about spatial management, you mean the management of how one type of gear can work in one place and another gear can work in another? Is that part of it?

That is a good approach. My one concern is that we should get clarity. When you asked Bally Philp about the marine plan, I think he said that the existing marine plan did not really deal with fisheries. I want us to get assurances that the existing plan covers fisheries and that the future plan that the Government is considering will include fisheries in the mix.

Okay—thank you.

Mr Philp, you have started to talk about all the different components that would need to be in the mix. It is not just the 3-mile limit—there are other elements that would need to be part of that. Perhaps you could talk about other ideas for minimising gear conflict that might work alongside a 3-mile limit or the spatial management measures that you mentioned, such as the inner sound pilot, territorial rights and that kind of thing.

You raise a really good point about seasonality, with the end of summer being a busy season. Through the work that you are doing with the industry advisory group—we will go into that in more detail later—is there a way of encouraging people to apply ahead of the deadline in order to minimise the delay?

Under agenda item 2, the committee will take evidence from two panels of witnesses on the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2023.

For our first panel, we are joined in the room by Professor Cliff Hague, who is a chartered town planner and chair of the Cockburn Association; Rob Dickson, who is the director of industry and destination development for VisitScotland; and Ailsa Raeburn, who is the chair of Community Land Scotland. Gillian McNaught, who is the legal manager for licensing and democratic services at Glasgow City Council, and Gary Somers, who is a solicitor for licensing at Highland Council, are joining us online.

I welcome our witnesses to the meeting. We will try to direct questions to specific witnesses where possible, but, if you would like to come in, please indicate that to the clerks. Could witnesses who are joining us online type R into the chat function if they wish to answer a question.

I will begin by framing the context for the meeting with what is set out in our briefing paper. The policy note that accompanies the licensing order explains that it would establish a scheme:

“to ensure short-term lets are safe and address issues faced by neighbours; and to facilitate local authorities in knowing and understanding what is happening in their area as well as to assist with handling complaints effectively.”

On 7 December 2022, the committee received a communication from Shona Robison, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, in which she said:

“I am writing to advise you that we intend to lay an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument in January 2023 that will seek to amend The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022. This is in order to amend the date by which existing hosts must apply for a short-term let licence from 31 March 2023 to 30 September 2023.

This is a one-off 6 month extension recognising the wider economic circumstances of the cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses at a time when they are organising and budgeting for work to comply with the new licensing requirements.”

I refer to those in order to remind us of the purpose of the meeting. We might start to explore other areas, but I wanted to frame the discussion.

I have said that we will direct our questions to specific witnesses, but I will start with one that is for everyone to respond to. Does your organisation support or oppose the proposed six-month extension to the date by which existing hosts must have submitted an application for a short-term let licence? I would be interested to hear more detail on why you think that. Could you also set out what you think the implications of the delay might be from your perspective?

I have another supplementary question. Ailsa Raeburn talked about the challenges for communities that are, in a way, being hollowed out—those are my words, not hers—by the fact that teachers, nurses and those working in public sector services cannot find housing in them. However, as a Highlands and Islands MSP, I am also aware that there is a challenge around accommodation for people who work in the hospitality sector. Do you recognise that that is an issue? It is ironic. On the one hand, there is the short-term letting industry, but on the other hand, there are other hospitality services that the people who come to stay in short-term lets might want to avail themselves of, but they cannot get a meal in a hotel because the hotel cannot accommodate its staff.

I would like to dig a little deeper into the scale drawings. Rob Dickson, perhaps you can help us with that, as you are part of the industry advisory group, so I have a sense that you have a bit of an overview.

Do all local authorities require a scale drawing as part of an application?

I will take my question a little further, because I am trying to understand whether the requirement for a scale drawing is creating confusion. It is being interpreted as a requirement for an architectural drawing, whereas, in fact, people could just take a piece of grid paper and use one box on it as their scale. As Gary Somers said, a scale of 1:50 would be nice, but the drawing does not need to be exact. Certainly, in the case of Highland Council, it does not sound like the drawing has to be down to the nearest millimetre, and that what is actually required is something that gives a general sense of the placement of things.