Chamber and committees

Thank you very much for that. I am interested in getting an overview from both of you on your high-level plans to respond to the housing emergency. Donna, do you want to go first?

For you, is knowing when the housing emergency is over about there being sufficient supply?

Thanks. Emma Roddick, do you briefly want to come in with a supplementary?

Moray Council, East Ayrshire Council and North Lanarkshire Council, you are up. What is your understanding of what is meant by a housing emergency, and has there been any consideration whether that applies in your local authority area? I have a couple of other questions, but let us start with that.

Out of the corner of my eye I see that Willie Coffey is indicating that he wants to come in with a—very brief—question. After that, we will wrap it up.

The next item on our agenda is consideration of two negative instruments. The committee considered those instruments as part of a package of instruments at its meeting last week when it took evidence from the Minister for Public Finance. At that time, the committee agreed to reflect on the evidence that it had heard and to return the instruments this week. As they are negative instruments, there is no requirement for the committee to make any recommendations. No other member has any comments on the instruments, but I am quite keen to reflect on them.

The amendment of the local development plan is very welcome. It was good to hear the Minister for Public Finance make the point that there could be an opportunity for communities to be able to introduce local place plans that have not yet been developed through the amending process. I was heartened to hear that.

I welcome the streamlining of the masterplan consent areas regulations, but it is very important that we ensure that that does not override the requirement to attend to an urgent issue around biodiversity, which should be a primary, priority policy in the national planning framework.

I just want to get on the record that, although masterplan consent areas are important with regard to some of the issues that we have been talking about around housing and infrastructure, we cannot forget the need to ensure that we attend to our degraded biodiversity, otherwise we will create knock-on problems for future generations.

With that, are members agreed that the committee does not wish to make any other recommendations in relation to those instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

That sounds like a good system. I have a couple of questions. One is about the aspiration for a semi-detached home that Stephen Llewellyn was talking about. What is driving that? Is it because we have a history of flats and things that were poorly built, where you could hear your neighbours verbatim through the walls? Although we now have new technology and building standards where you cannot hear people, we have an experience of older housing in flats that sets us up to think that it is always going to be like that. However, if we use modern-day technology, we could do something better.

Yes, we can hear you.

Absolutely. I use the phrase “three for the price of one” a lot these days.

Could you say a little bit about the housing revenue account, which Derek McGowan brought up? He said that you have to speak to ministers if you want to add to that pot from the general fund. Up to this point, no council has done that, and Derek McGowan suggested that that was partly because the guidelines are not clear. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on that, as that could be a way in which you could get more funding.