Seòmar agus comataidhean

It has been a very useful session and I thank all of you for the work, diligence and the robustness of the report. It is a very helpful next step. We asked the Scottish Government to join us this morning but the officials were not available; I hope that we will be able to get them along to the committee. The next panel is from COSLA. We are interested to hear what they have to say. I thank all the witnesses for joining us this morning.

I briefly suspend the meeting to allow a change of witnesses.

I welcome our second panel of witnesses, who are from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We are joined online by Councillor Shona Morrison, who is the president; Councillor Steven Heddle, who s the vice-president; and Brianna Fletcher, who is the policy officer for human rights and equalities. I welcome you all to the meeting—it is good to see you. I begin by inviting Councillor Morrison to make a brief opening statement.

Thanks very much for that. There is maybe something about the general public understanding that it is a unique set-up and that each councillor will be managing their time in different ways.

I can certainly imagine that, because we have a greater understanding of equalities and community empowerment, we have shifted our perspective of what we want to see Scotland become.

Congratulations on that acknowledgment. That is great. Given what you said earlier about the challenge with the time and the limitations, you have certainly gathered excellent information.

We will go into a new theme of understanding barriers to local elected office. I will bring in Gordon MacDonald. If you could make your declaration of interest that would be great.

Good morning, and welcome to the 16th meeting in 2024 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I remind all members and witnesses to ensure that their devices are in silent mode.

We have received apologies from Stephanie Callaghan.

The first item on our agenda is a decision on whether to take items 3, 4 and 5 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The next item on our agenda is an evidence session with the Minister for Public Finance on the committee’s annual review of the fourth national planning framework. From the Scottish Government, the minister is joined by Fiona Simpson, who is the chief planner and director of planning, architecture and regeneration, and Andy Kinnaird, who is the head of transforming planning in the planning, architecture and regeneration division. I welcome the minister to his first meeting in his new role. We look forward to working with you.

Before we move to questions, I remind members and those participating in today’s evidence session that there are active legal proceedings concerning the interpretation of NPF4 policies and the interaction between those policies and existing local plans. The Parliament’s standing order rules state:

“A member may not in the proceedings of the Parliament refer to any matter in relation to which legal proceedings are active except to the extent permitted by the Presiding Officer.”

Although we do not wish discussion and debate to be unduly restricted, I ask members and witnesses to avoid making reference to the specific matters that are currently before the courts.

I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.

It is great that you are across that.

Miles Briggs has a supplementary on brownfields, and then I will go to Mark Griffin.

That question covered a broader area than our NPF4 theme, but I appreciate your answering it.

You mentioned the CPO review and looking at compulsory sales orders. Can you give us a timeline on that?