Subordinate Legislation
Community Right to Buy<br />(Definition of Excluded Land) (Scotland) Order 2006 (Draft)
I call the meeting to order and invite colleagues to ensure that their phones and BlackBerrys are suitably silent. I have received apologies from Pauline McNeill, who is speaking to an amendment to the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill at this morning's meeting of the Communities Committee. No other apologies have been received.
I welcome Rhona Brankin, who is the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, and Richard Frew, who is the head of the Scottish Executive's land reform branch. Before we come to the debate on motion S2M-4734, it is appropriate to give members the chance to seek details on, or clarification of, any technical matters in the draft order. Mr Frew will be able to participate in such discussions, although he will not be able to take part in the formal debate once the motion has been moved.
Do you wish to make any opening remarks, deputy minister?
Yes. I will try to be brief.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the committee's consideration of the draft Community Right to Buy (Definition of Excluded Land) (Scotland) Order 2006. As the convener said, I am accompanied by Richard Frew, who has responsibility in the Executive for the community right to buy in part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
I will explain briefly why the draft order, for which section 33(2) of the 2003 act provides, is required. The committee will be aware from its consideration of the existing Community Right to Buy (Definition of Excluded Land) (Scotland) Order 2004 (SSI 2004/296) that the order is a crucial part of the law on the community right to buy because it defines land that is excluded from being registered and, therefore, bought under the community right to buy. All land comprising settlements that have a population of more than 10,000 residents remains excluded.
In 2004, my predecessor, Allan Wilson, told the committee that the order would be updated regularly to reflect changes in settlement boundaries and population statistics. In that respect, the draft order simply updates the information in the 2004 order, which the committee approved.
However, the draft order contains two significant presentational changes. First, the body of the order no longer refers to the General Register Office for Scotland's publication, "Scottish Settlements—Urban and Rural Areas in Scotland", as the source of the statistics. The GROS's updating publication, "Mid-2004 Population Estimates for Settlements in Scotland", is merely a background document that has been used to inform the policy. That information is now contained in the Executive note. Secondly, the draft order makes no reference to the population threshold of 10,000. Again, as that figure has been used to inform the policy, the information is contained in the Executive note. We think that people will find that arrangement better and clearer.
The changes result in a simplified order and have no effect on the Executive's policy or on the purpose of the order. The 2003 act does not prescribe that such information should be contained in the order, so the draft order states that excluded settlements are those that are set out in the schedule to the order. I hope that the committee agrees that it is helpful and appropriate that, for interested parties, that information be included in the Executive note.
As the Executive note indicates, if Parliament approves the draft order, the land of two new settlements—Stonehaven and Westhill, by Aberdeen—will be excluded from the right to buy because their population is now above the threshold of 10,000 residents, which means that there will be 55 excluded settlements. In addition, the GROS has renamed five settlements: Ayr/Prestwick is now Ayr; Buckhaven/Kennoway has become Buckhaven; Kirkintilloch/Lenzie has become Kirkintilloch; Blackwood (Cumbernauld) is now just Cumbernauld; and Blantyre/Hamilton is Hamilton. Minor adjustments have been made to some settlement boundaries, mainly to reflect new development or to take on board adjustments that the GROS has made to settlement boundaries.
The draft order continues to provide for designated maps, copies of which we have provided for the clerks. The maps will be made available at the offices of the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department at Pentland House, at the Executive's library at Saughton House and at local agricultural area offices in areas that contain excluded land. The purpose of that is to allow rural communities to access the maps easily without having to travel to Edinburgh. I understand that the system has worked well to date.
For the reasons that I have outlined, I invite the committee to agree to motion S2M-4734.
I ask you not to move the motion just yet.
That is all I would like to say to the committee at this stage, but I am happy to answer questions.
As my colleagues have no questions, I ask you to confirm that Motherwell does not qualify.
I will need to double-check that because I do not know the answer off the top of my head.
Motherwell comprises land that is registrable, so it does not qualify under excluded land.
The implication is that the settlement of Motherwell has a population of fewer than 10,000. Is that true of Motherwell and Wishaw?
I have to be careful about how I respond. Can Richard Frew speak at this stage?
Yes, he can.
Richard Frew (Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department):
I suppose that the simple answer is that the settlement of Motherwell is not excluded land because, according to the GROS definition, it does not have a population of more than 10,000 people. Therefore, that land is registrable.
Okay. I am not particularly familiar with Motherwell; it just struck me that it might have a larger population. We do not need to consider the matter further if you have examined the situation and are happy that there has not been an omission.
I do not know whether you want me to explain how settlements are made up.
That might be useful, given that, prima facie, Motherwell would appear to be an unusual exception.
That would be helpful.
Settlements are defined on the basis of population census statistics. The GROS examines postcode units, which are the building blocks for localities and settlements. The process is relatively straightforward—each postcode unit is given an urban or rural tag, according to the number of people who live in it. The postcode units are grouped together, and all those with urban tags within a certain area are drawn to form the settlement boundary.
Motion moved,
That the Justice 1 Committee recommends that the draft Community Right to Buy (Definition of Excluded Land) (Scotland) Order 2006 be approved.—[Rhona Brankin.]
Motion agreed to.