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I do not think that there any more comments on 20-minute neighbourhoods and how they are shaping developers’ proposals, so thanks very much for your comments. I know that colleagues will want to come back in on some of these areas.

Do Tony Cain and Donna Young want to comment on 20-minute neighbourhoods? Are we embracing the concept fully or partially?

Thank you.

Good morning, everybody.

I want to go back briefly to Ailsa Macfarlane’s comments about windows and conservation area status. I think that we will be looking at the issue later, but, Ailsa, did you say that conservation areas are excluded from that relaxation in PDRs?

I was just about to come on to that issue. I am trying to stay out of areas that other colleagues will ask about, but on that issue of 20-minute neighbourhoods and developer proposals, are you hearing that the developers are having difficulty defining and articulating what they mean and what they are planning in order to line up with NPF4? Are you hearing that local authorities might have a different interpretation of what is meant? Is that one of the reasons that, as Catriona Hill mentioned, things are slowing down a little?

Okay. Are there any other comments?

I want to switch the discussion to 20-minute neighbourhoods and local living. We had a good discussion with the previous panel about how well everyone is embracing those concepts, but I would like to hear your views on whether builders, developers and communities are getting close to achieving them.

Having listened to the previous comments, I note that Lugton, a small village in my constituency with a population of about 80, is incredibly rural but is only 15 miles from Glasgow and about 10 miles from Kilmarnock, so there is a contradiction in relation to whether it is, in fact, rural because it is so close to the biggest city in Scotland.

The concept of 20-minute neighbourhoods is bound to mean different things in different places. Is NPF4 flexible enough to recognise that, so that the concept can be applied properly locally? What is your perspective on whether the three groups that I mentioned are embracing the concept of 20-minute neighbourhoods? Are we beginning to see signs that it is working for us?

Donna Young, do you have any comments on the MATHLR?

Good morning, everybody. Allister, the statistics that you read out are encouraging, but I want to put to you a point that David Jones, GEOAmey’s managing director, made when he appeared before us. He talked about the increased obligation on GEOAmey. He said, for example, that it had to deal with 44 per cent more solemn cases, 35 per cent more bed watches and 38 per cent higher costs, and that 60 per cent more people were involved in hospital appointments than was the case prior to the pandemic.

As I understand it, those increases in the numbers and in the demands that were placed on GEOAmey were never specified in the contract, but we still imposed penalties on GEOAmey for not meeting those increased obligations and higher targets. Was it fair to not specify increased targets and, at the same, to penalise the company for not meeting them?

Why would penalties be enforced at all if such flexibility was built into the agreement?