Town Centre Action Plan
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-08769, in the name of Derek Mackay, on the town centre action plan. The minister has up to 10 minutes. We are very tight for time.
15:55
Having launched Scotland’s town centre action plan on behalf of the Scottish Government, I am particularly heartened that the convener of the cross-party group on towns and town centres subsequently endorsed it and acknowledged that it had been largely well received. That is fair comment, and reflects the partnership approach to supporting and revitalising our town centres.
The action plan is clear, but is not an end in itself. It helps to set the conditions for recovery and offers a range of actions that are appropriate to local circumstances.
Town centres are important. They offer a base for small businesses and local jobs, support local economies, offer space for community and civic functions, give a town its identity and offer a sense of place for those who want to live in, work in and visit it.
The Government recognises the importance of town centres. We met our commitment to carry out a national review of town centres, and in July last year, we welcomed the review group’s report, “Community and Enterprise in Scotland’s Town Centres”, which made key recommendations to help to support town centres. We are indebted to the chair and members of the external advisory group for the work that they have undertaken.
The Government’s action plan is a response to the group’s recommendations. I have spoken with key stakeholders across the wider public, private and community sectors during the production of our action plan and beyond and have been encouraged by the initiatives that are already in place to support our town centres, although I recognise that there are many more opportunities to take. That is why our action plan focuses on what we as a Government can do to help town centres. It also asks that our partners work together to provide a joined-up approach to town centre regeneration.
The review report called for action, and the Government has listened. For the first time, we have in place an action plan that sets the framework for town centre regeneration. I have lead responsibility for implementing that plan and ensuring that momentum is maintained across Government to deliver the actions that we have set out.
In preparing the response to the recommendations that are set out in the review, I brought together senior officials from across Government who have a stake in the health of our towns. Together, we have identified the relevant policies, programmes and strategies that support and put in place the conditions to enable and promote local action.
The actions on empty properties in the plan are excellent. In Burns Statue Square in the town centre of Ayr, there are listed buildings that are in such a state of utter disrepair that they cause neighbouring properties major problems. The owners are now subject to an action that was raised by the procurator fiscal. Will the Government consider strengthening legislation in respect of penalties and identify better practice in relation to such properties?
We can do a range of things about buildings that have been left in a terrible state of repair. Such issues are the reason why we will take action through the proposed community empowerment (Scotland) bill. There are also other factors to consider, such as the use of compulsory purchase orders and, indeed, the VAT issue. It is ludicrous that the UK Government has decided that VAT relief should be given just for new build and not for town centre refurbishment. There is an issue in relation to financial incentivisation and legal and other actions, which the Scottish Government will take forward.
There is also an issue to do with town centre consolidation, growth and adaptation to circumstances in what has been quite a challenging time. Internet shopping is a further issue, of course, but therein lies an opportunity, not just a threat, to town centres. Click and collect is one way forward, for example.
The message is clear: by working together and putting our town centres to the fore, we can capture the opportunities to make them vibrant places where people can socialise, live and do business.
Solving the issues that our towns face is not solely the responsibility of central Government; a great many people are involved in maintaining the health of Scottish towns, and I commend their work. Local solutions will be absolutely critical, but Governments should certainly remove any barriers that are identified. Our action plan is intended to add support and to stimulate and encourage action across the wider public, private and community sectors, all of which we have invited to contribute to our on-going efforts.
The review group made a specific call for a town centre first principle, which would put town centres at the heart of the decision-making process. That principle would go beyond the existing sequential test in Scottish planning policy. The review group aspired to a town centre first principle that drives public sector investment decision making, aligns policies and targets resources to put town centre sites first, and encourages diversity and vibrancy.
We broadly agree with that aspiration and we are now establishing a working group with COSLA to determine how a town centre first principle would work and be interpreted in practice. That group includes, among others, representatives of Heads of Planning Scotland, the Scottish local authorities economic development group, the Scottish Futures Trust and Architecture and Design Scotland.
The principle will see a fundamental shift in public policy. To demonstrate that, we have agreed to amplify guidance in the much-read Scottish public finance manual to ensure that bodies acquiring and disposing of public sector assets and property consider the degree of priority attached to town centres. That shows the Scottish Government’s commitment to lead the way in how the public sector responds to the town centre first principle.
We have launched a £2 million demonstration town centre housing fund to bring empty town centre properties back into use. We subsequently increased that by £750,000, bringing the total to £2.75 million, to support affordable housing projects as demonstration projects. Through that fund we will test the barriers to and opportunities in town centre living. Many of our town centres need to diversify. We announced the details of the seven successful projects in Parliament on 9 January.
Many initiatives will be implemented in the next few months, including the expansion of the fresh start business rates relief scheme, which will give 50 per cent rates relief to businesses that take on even more kinds of long-term empty property. That includes more premises of higher value—of up to £65,000—and additional types of empty premises, including those previously used as pubs, hotels and restaurants.
We have targeted a mainstreaming charrettes grant that will specifically support town centre charrettes. A project team has been appointed to develop a master-planning toolkit specific to town centres that will highlight good practice in design, accessibility and effective engagement with town centre communities.
The national review was explicit about the need to create a longer-term model when it comes to making decisions about where local services are placed or where the focus should be in future town planning decisions. As a direct continuation of that thought, we will work with Architecture and Design Scotland and the Scottish Futures Trust to investigate ways of expanding the role of place-based reviews.
We want to work with interested planning authorities to test new approaches for town centres. A recent consultation on the draft Scottish planning policy proposed a town centre health check to inform development plans and planning applications, the purpose of which would be to assess the strengths, weaknesses and resilience of a town centre, as well as gauge its vitality and viability.
In November, we launched the consultation on the community empowerment (Scotland) bill. Community empowerment is about communities taking their own decisions about their future and unlocking the immense local potential that we know exists. The bill will give people and communities, and those supporting them in the public sector, a range of new ways to deliver a better Scotland.
The bill will make it easier for communities to take over public sector land and buildings, and will improve and extend the existing community right to buy. It will also create flexibility to deliver locally led business rates relief schemes appropriate to local circumstances, in addition to our comprehensive national package of support through business rates relief.
Many of the solutions outlined in the original review report are not for the Scottish Government to undertake directly, but our action plan is meant as an added stimulus to encourage and support action across the wider public, private and community sectors, all of which we invite to contribute to the efforts that are required. Through that engagement, we will facilitate action to address the local issues that are faced by our town centres.
We will continue to support a range of demonstration projects to test emerging ideas from the review report and the action plan. We plan to support that as a demonstration phase with the provision of a new budget of £1.5 million in each of the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16. I encourage all members to engage with local elected members, local partnerships, local chambers of commerce and local businesses and come forward with ideas for demonstration projects that can show the way to rejuvenate town centres up, down and across Scotland.
That partnership approach will assist us in delivering the action plan to support town centres. We know that people care about town centres, and we will now be able to put the mechanisms in place to ensure that they enjoy the sustainable economic growth and recovery that the country is now experiencing.
I move,
That the Parliament supports the range of actions identified in the Town Centre Action Plan and welcomes the work of the National Town Centre Review External Advisory Group; recognises the importance of town centres as a base for improving local economies and for local business and employment; acknowledges that successful town centres provide communities with a range of accessible services and are attractive areas in which to socialise; agrees that local decision making and delivery is important to reflect the specific and diverse needs of Scotland’s town centres; recognises the benefits of having the most competitive business rates package in the UK through measures such as the Small Business Bonus Scheme, Fresh Start rates relief and by capping the 2014-15 poundage rate, and calls on elected representatives at all levels, local communities and wider public and private sector partners to continue to work together to revitalise Scotland’s town centres.
16:04
I welcome this debate because it gives us a chance to focus on what action needs to be taken to enable our town centres to survive. It is only a short debate, so I will use my time to focus on the issues that need more priority and investment.
Last week, a leading retail expert warned that high streets could become “zombies” unless planning rules change to make it easier for cafes, restaurants and homes to move in where shops can no longer operate. He highlighted, though, that in his view the top 50 United Kingdom high streets would get stronger. The pace of change in retail is accelerating, particularly in relation to online shopping, and it is not going to slow down. For example, online sales for John Lewis in the new year sales jumped by 34.5 per cent compared with those in the same week last year, and John Lewis is already doing well in online sales.
There can be no room for complacency for all of us on the issue of high streets. There is much that we can agree with in terms of the ambition and analysis in the Malcolm Fraser report, but there is so much more that the Government’s action plan should have included for action. Our town centres need to be regenerated and local authorities need to work with businesses and local communities to develop strategies and action plans to save our town centres. They need to be interesting and attractive and have a range of shops and services that we want to use that must be safe and accessible. There is a lot that we need to do.
I strongly support the town centre first principle, but it must be applied consistently by the Scottish Government. We need every public service and leisure and cultural facility assessed in terms of its capacity in town centres. That will bring the vitality and dynamism that our town centres urgently need. That is why Labour MSPs have opposed the Scottish Government’s court closure programme and proposals to reduce access to or close police station counters. In towns such as Haddington and South Queensferry, people have objected because they understand that the closures would have a negative impact and reduce the vitality and attractiveness of our town centres.
The Labour amendment focuses on the importance of enabling people to live in our town centres. The aim of bringing people back into town centres through utilising land and buildings is massively desirable. It would certainly help shop workers faced with difficult journeys into towns when the buses do not start in time for their shift and it would be great for people working in businesses and public services, and for people who are attracted to the buzz that comes from living in town centres. Support for businesses is crucial, but we must think about a package that will enable people to live in our town centres and bring them to life again.
The money that has been allocated to the town centre housing fund is a drop in the ocean compared with what we need for our town centres, particularly given that only seven town centres benefit. Our amendment just states the obvious, because we need significantly more than £2.75 million to get people back into our town centres. The minister had to push the amount up from £2 million within a relatively short timescale, but I am sure that if he had offered more money, we would have had a host of further projects. We therefore need to do more.
There is also the issue of the role of our local authorities in bringing businesses, communities and agencies together. Local authorities have a vital role in developing projects on the ground to rescue and reshape our town centres, whether that is urban rail projects or putting together redevelopment packages when the market has simply walked away and owners are happy to have their properties lie empty for years at a time.
There are significant obstacles and we all know that councils are cash strapped. It is therefore difficult for them to allocate extra money for town centre management initiatives, and even more so for them to put money into capital investment to transform the kind of rundown buildings that we have heard about in the debate. A key power that local authorities could do with having would be a more streamlined compulsory purchase power. Will that be one of the powers that the minister will include in the proposed community empowerment and renewal bill? It could be a really useful power.
At the Built Environment Forum for Scotland conference last year, there was a showcase of some fantastic examples of local authority-led initiatives that have transformed town centres. For example, there was Glasgow’s use of property ownership to give access to young aspiring entrepreneurs and arts-based companies who needed a shop window. Glasgow will support that with business assistance for the first few years. There are also the co-operative-owned companies, which are the kind of idea that was in the Greens’ proposed amendment. Such companies work particularly well in smaller towns and rural communities where there is a strong community ethos.
There is a lot in the action plan, with a lot of lists of things that need to be done. However, having visited several town centres last summer to look at what is happening on the ground, I firmly believe that every town centre needs to have its own action plan and its own strategy, resourced and enabled with proper buy-in from key players. Local authorities are best placed to take the role of being the key civic leadership in pulling together local businesses and their owners and developing bids. They have the capacity to analyse which buildings could be brought together in project management, and particularly to look at buildings that are full of character but poorly maintained.
We need the capacity to get on with this work, and that is why I believe that the action plan needs to be more ambitious. For example, we need better bus connections and better walking and cycling infrastructure. Can the minister explain why walking and cycling are seen as long-term issues to be addressed? Spokes makes the obvious point that, if we have better facilities and better access to our town centres, that will lead to more attractive opportunities.
Will the member take an intervention?
Yes.
You are in your last 45 seconds, though.
To answer the very point, I say that I absolutely agree with the member about local authorities. That is why we are waiting for their response. What I have published is the Government’s response. The member is absolutely right about the actions that require to be taken by local authorities.
You have 30 seconds.
Right. I thought that the minister might have come in on the cycling point, but there is always the summing-up speech at the end.
The pace of change is accelerating—we all know that—so we need a greater sense of urgency in addressing the challenges. We have focused on housing and getting people back into our town centres to live. That is a practical thing and a job that we could all do together, but it needs more resource. I therefore move amendment S4M-08769.2, to insert at end:
“; recognises the importance of investment in housing to help regenerate Scotland’s town centres, and acknowledges that to properly implement the Town Centre Action Plan and reinvigorate town centres there must be significantly more investment than the £2.75 million currently set aside in the Town Centre Housing Fund.”
16:11
Town centres are critical. I am sure that that view is shared right across the chamber, across all the political parties and across the country. They play key roles in our economy, in creating jobs and in creating communities, but at the moment they face a multitude of challenges. Some of those are related to the downturn and the economic conditions over the past five or six years, but others are longer-term, structural challenges that are part of the longer-term trend for which we all have to accept some responsibility.
I welcome the report that the external advisory group produced, and I give credit to the Government for setting up the group, which did some very good work. An impressive list of people sat on the group and contributed to it, and the report is a basis from which we can move forward. However, I am disappointed by the Scottish Government’s response to it, which ducks some of the big issues, ignores some of the more radical and interesting objectives in the report and restricts comments to things that the Government was already doing and things that are easier to talk about than to do.
One of the recommendations on the key town centre first principle—this is on page 6 of the expert advisory group report—is:
“The Scottish Government and all public sector bodies need to ensure that funding and investment programmes are aligned to achieve the maximum effect in supporting diversity, enterprise and creativity in our town centres.”
That is a strong statement but, as it came out last summer, what was the Scottish Government doing? It was busy shutting down courts right across the country. We have a report that talks about a town centre first principle, but we have the Scottish Government busy with a court closure programme. When the Scottish Government produced its response in November, it gave a warm welcome, or at least a lukewarm welcome, to the town centre first principle, but what was it busy doing? It was busy with a police counter closure programme right across the country.
There is no point in the Minister for Local Government and Planning or the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism standing up and talking about how critical town centres are to our economy while another wing of Government is taking action that has the effect of denigrating or doing down our town centres. That makes no sense whatsoever. If there is going to be such a principle, it has to be joined up not just across the Scottish Government but across the public sector in Scotland as a whole.
Another strong and radical policy in the expert group’s report is a business rates incentivisation plus scheme—it is called a “BRIS+ scheme” in the report, which states:
“As Business Rates traditionally go to Central Government BRIS represents a new model of Local Authority Incentivisation.”
It goes on to state that the
“BRIS+ scheme”
that it suggests would give
“Local Authorities ... 100% of additional business rates collected in town centres”,
as opposed to the 50 per cent under the current Scottish Government policy. That has been Conservative policy since 2011 and it is something that the Government needs to respond to positively and give full consideration to.
In my part of the chamber we are very disappointed with the current business rates incentivisation scheme—a scheme that was missing from the minister’s opening statement; I hope that he comes to it in his closing speech—because we were told:
“Any council that exceeds its annual business rates target will share the additional income equally with the Scottish Government. The scheme therefore incentivises councils to maximise their existing business rates income and to encourage or attract new economic growth which will grow their business rates income.”
The problem is that the Scottish Government said that in 2011. It was the SNP’s flagship policy when it went into the local authority elections in 2012. We now find ourselves in 2014, and what has happened with that policy? In year 1, the goalposts or targets were changed at the last minute. Councils were in line to receive moneys, but many will now receive nothing and lots will receive far less than they expected. In year 2, as we heard just last month, targets have not even been set. We are two months away from the end of the financial year and councils have not been given targets. That is why we are disappointed. [Interruption.]
I see you making those gestures, Presiding Officer, so I will leave it there.
I move amendment S4M-08769.3, to leave out from “supports” to end and insert:
“welcomes the work of the National Town Centre Review External Advisory Group and notes the Scottish Government response in the Town Centre Action Plan; recognises that town centres play a vital role across Scotland in terms of communities, jobs and businesses; questions the Scottish Government’s commitment to a town centre first principle and is disappointed by the lack of action on the Business Rates Incentivisation Scheme, and calls on the Scottish Government to give serious consideration to a fresh Town Centre Regeneration Fund and to implementing a relief scheme for retail properties with a rateable value of up to £50,000.”
Many thanks.
16:16
As I am a member of the cross-party group on towns and town centres, I am pleased to have been called to speak in the debate.
It is clear that the need to act to reinvigorate our town centres has been widely acknowledged. The Scottish Government has taken a lead and shown its determination to breathe new life into our town centres, which can be seen in the fact that in 2012 the Scottish Government commissioned the national review of town centres. The review was conducted by Malcolm Fraser, the leading architect, together with a panel of experts and the group’s recommendations were published in July last year. The Scottish Government’s town centre action plan was published in response to those recommendations and is the focus of our debate.
The Scottish Government’s absolute commitment to town centres is highlighted by the fact that in Scotland, for the first time, we have a Government minister named as a dedicated minister for town centres. That underlines the “change of Government mindset”—to quote Malcolm Fraser’s comments on the town centre action plan. I know that Derek Mackay, the dedicated minister for town centres, will strain every sinew to be Scotland’s town centre champion.
There is not sufficient time to go into the action plan in great detail, but I wish to mention the town centre first principle that has been set forth in the plan. That approach will be pivotal in making a success of the action plan and not just saving but promoting our town centres. Across government, both local and national, it is vital that that presumption in favour of activity on our high streets is adhered to and, as the Federation of Small Businesses has said, becomes
“a core factor of decision-making”.
It is therefore incumbent on us all to monitor the application of that presumption across the public sector very carefully indeed, to ensure that the obvious decline that blights many of our town centres is halted and reversed. I know that we all want to see our town centres as vibrant places where people can shop, live, enjoy their leisure time and access relevant services. That is the challenge before us.
I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to work with COSLA to determine how the town centre first principle will work in practice. I welcome, too, the town centre housing fund, which will help bring empty properties in town centres back into use for affordable housing, and, as a member for Mid Scotland and Fife, I welcome the recently announced beneficiaries, including Cupar, Alva and Crieff. I also welcome the extension of the fresh start scheme and the business rates reduction on offer in those circumstances.
Of course, business rates are crucial to ensuring that our high streets survive in these difficult financial times. Having run a small business, I very well understand how much of a lifeline the small business bonus scheme has been. Since the scheme was introduced by this Scottish National Party Government in 2008, 5,800 businesses in Fife alone have benefited from it and saved £45.7 million.
I have to ask why on earth the Labour Party has the small business bonus scheme in its sights. Why does it want Fife businesses to pay higher rates than businesses south of the border and why does it advocate pulling the rug from under Fife businesses that day and daily are struggling to make ends meet? People in Fife know that the small business bonus scheme is safe with the SNP—
You should be closing, please.
It is a pity that they cannot rely on their Labour Party representatives to confirm a commitment to small business.
16:21
As convener of the cross-party group on towns and town centres, I am very keen for the future of our town centres to be pushed up the political agenda. Accordingly, I welcome this afternoon’s debate.
I also join colleagues in welcoming the broad aims of the town centre action plan as well as the work of Malcolm Fraser and his external advisory group, which has informed so much of the Government’s thinking on town centres. Many of the ideas coming out of the review and the action plan, including mixed-use town centres, digital towns, community enterprise and regeneration are sound and have received broad support.
However, what I have learned from the Fraser review and my experience in the cross-party group is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to town centre regeneration. For example, solutions for my home town of East Kilbride, which is a new town with a big retail-focused town centre, will be different from Hamilton down the road, which has adopted the business improvement district model. That point is crucial because as Business Improvement Districts Scotland, the Association of Town and City Management, Development Trusts Scotland and Scotland’s Towns Partnership will tell us, towns have to develop their own unique selling point to be resilient in an economy that is increasingly dominated by online sales and out-of-town retail.
I want to make three specific points about the action plan’s content. First, on business rates, Labour remains, despite claims to the contrary, committed to the uniform business rate and the small business bonus, although we believe that the latter could have been targeted in a smarter, sharper way. As Labour has argued for greater flexibility in rates to incentivise growth at the local level, I am very interested in the incentivisation proposals in the action plan. However, certain issues are coming up time and again, with town centre traders telling us not only that the valuations are out of kilter with the property market but that the process of appealing an assessor’s decision is time consuming, convoluted and sometimes just impenetrable for local firms.
Secondly, on town centre living, I want to bring Paisley to the chamber’s attention. In its study visit last year, the cross-party group visited a number of Renfrewshire towns and found Paisley to be interesting because the BID’s vision for the town is about not just retail but people living and socialising in the town centre. Although the town centre housing fund is welcome, it must be part of a wider regeneration strategy for our towns and we should also be clear that it is a drop in the ocean with regard to meeting housing needs in Scotland.
Finally, on the town centre first principle, which Gavin Brown referred to in his speech, I think that it is good but it would be helpful if Police Scotland, the Scottish Court Service and the Post Office Ltd also recognised it. However, I notice from parliamentary answers that no definition of what “town centre first” actually means has been agreed by the Scottish Government and COSLA.
The truest criticism of an otherwise welcome action plan is that many of the points that it contains will take time to implement and that is time that some businesses simply do not have. For example, although I expect the community empowerment bill to become very important to anyone who is interested in regenerating our town centres, the consultation period has not even closed yet.
I wish the minister well in putting this plan into practice, but will conclude simply by impressing upon him the urgency of putting in place measures to make Scotland’s towns more resilient and attractive, even in these testing times.
16:25
Glasgow has many town centres that are quite distinct from its city centre. In fleshing out what a town centre first principle means in practice, let us ensure that Glasgow and other places with city-based town centres are at the heart of measures to support Scotland’s town centres.
I am confident that that will happen. Following my intervention, the Scottish Government’s town centre regeneration fund included city-based town centres, and my city of Glasgow gained more than £5 million, including £1.8 million for Maryhill borough halls, which is a wonderful asset for the constituents that I represent.
However, there are less desirable businesses trading on our high streets and I would like any town centre action plan to deal with them. So-called payday lenders that offer instant cash to vulnerable Scots at exorbitant interest rates add nothing to our city and town centres except, perhaps, misery. They target families who are desperate for cash, offering apparent solutions that only push vulnerable people further into debt. We know that this is a huge and growing problem. More than 100 people contact Citizens Advice Scotland every week with debt problems that are linked to payday lending. I have no doubt that UK welfare cuts to our most needy will be linked to the growth in that area, but that is perhaps a debate for another day.
It is no accident that payday lending establishments often locate themselves beside communities that are struggling the most financially. I do not believe that it is right, acceptable or ethical that someone who is struggling financially can walk into an instant-cash shop and borrow money at an annual percentage rate of nearly 4,000 per cent. I checked the rates today. Such rip-off rates are available right now in Maryhill shopping centre, Springburn shopping centre, Rutherglen’s main street and across Scotland.
Short of independence, we cannot tackle such unsavoury and undesirable lending practices on our high streets as directly as we might like. Of course, yet again, that is an argument for another day. However, this Parliament, in partnership with our local authorities, must do all that it can to rid our town centres of these outlets, whether we do so via planning, licensing, taxation powers or another mechanism. We must use every tool that we can to ensure that our town centres do not promote such practices.
I call on the minister to convene a summit to co-ordinate efforts to clamp down on such payday lending practices on our high streets. I genuinely believe that, together, we can come to a clear consensus that shops offering 4,000 per cent loans to those who are most in debt have no place at the heart of our high streets, and that we can find a way to take action to tackle this scurrilous problem.
Thank you for your indulgence, Presiding Officer.
Thank you for your brevity.
16:28
I, too, welcome the work that has been undertaken by Malcolm Fraser and the national town centre review external advisory group, and its recommendations and key action points. It notes, for example, the need for work with housing providers in the private and public sectors to bring empty town centre properties, such as those over shops, back into use for affordable housing. It recommends that local authorities recognise the importance of bringing residential footfall back into town centres and prioritise appropriate sites for town centre housing development in their local housing strategies.
I want to talk about Dumfries, the regional capital of Dumfries and Galloway. It has some fine historic buildings, some of which have, sadly, fallen into disrepair. The town centre, like others, has faced significant challenges in recent years as a result of the changes in patterns of retail demand; the town’s proximity to other major retail centres, such as Carlisle and, to a lesser extent, Glasgow and Newcastle; the expansion of out-of-town retail centres along the A75; and, of course, the rapid growth in internet shopping. The recession added further problems, as a number of retail chains with shops on the high street went into administration and, in addition, many of our older town centre retail properties that are not situated on the high street are smaller and older buildings, for which there has been little demand in recent years—indeed, some have changed their type of occupation because of that.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has developed a number of projects to improve the public realm, including the flood prevention proposals that I raised last week with the environment minister, who is in the chamber at the moment. Charitable organisations such as the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust, which is working on the refurbishment of the almost derelict town house whose garden inspired J M Barrie to write “Peter Pan”, with a view to creating a children’s museum, and the Dumfries Theatre Royal Trust, which is undertaking work to regenerate Scotland’s oldest working theatre, will also make outstanding contributions to the town’s future and its tourism offering.
It is disappointing, therefore, particularly in the light of the task force’s key recommendation on bringing empty properties such as those over shops into residential use for affordable housing, that the Scottish Government rejected Dumfries and Galloway Council’s recent bid to the town centre housing fund. The bid’s title, “Dumfries: Living over the Shops”, reflected the key recommendation that I referred to earlier. It involved partnership between three private sector owners on three refurbishment projects to provide much-needed affordable housing and high-quality commercial space. It would have provided seven new flats over commercial units in the town centre to be let at mid-market rent, four new commercial units suitable for local independent traders and one improved commercial unit. The properties would have been available for affordable housing.
Of course, the member advocates for her local area. I expect her to do that. However, I do not accept that the demonstration projects are the limit of the Government’s ambition. There may be a way to take forward such a project without this specific fund.
I am grateful to the minister for that because I believe that it is a very good project. It is in line with the Government’s own mid-market rent property strategy and has planning consent for the refurbishment of two of the sites while the third is expected to receive planning consent by March. If the bid had been successful, construction could have started in March and would have been completed by October.
There is a lot to like about the proposals and I would like to hear more about other sources of funding. At the moment, the seven projects that were successful involve registered social landlords and local councils refurbishing existing properties for which they already get affordable housing supply funding, and it looks a wee bit as though the funding is being used to supplement funding for affordable housing from other sources. I have no wish to denigrate the proposals, but there has been a missed opportunity to support a really innovative project. If the minister is still interested in the project, I look forward to hearing more about how it can be funded pretty soon.
16:32
Like Elaine Murray, I will talk about the town centre action plan in the context of the local experience of my constituents. Like all members, I hope, I am proud to represent the area that I represent.
I am proud to represent the towns of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, which are two great towns with a lot going for them. They have a strong civic identity and community spirit. They have lots of green space in and around them for people to enjoy, they are well located and well connected to the rest of the country, they have great schools and they provide a great standard of living. One area of concern has been, and continues to be, the condition of the town centres in those towns, although that is perhaps less of a concern in Kilsyth, where efforts have been made to renovate that have been supported by the town centre regeneration fund that the Government established in the previous parliamentary session.
The situation of Cumbernauld town centre is probably well known to most members and across the country. We have a town centre that holds the town back a little and reflects unfairly on the whole town; we certainly do not have a town centre that matches the civic pride that people in Cumbernauld have in their town. One of the big problems with Cumbernauld town centre is that, unlike most town centres, it is privately owned. That is unlike the situation in Kilsyth, where the high street is public property and the council can act in ways in which it cannot act in relation to Cumbernauld town centre. To be fair, I should say that the oldest part of Cumbernauld town centre has new owners who have plans to renovate it. I look forward to seeing those plans emerge.
Any town centre action plan that can help Cumbernauld and other town centres is very much to be welcomed. The Government is to be congratulated on its plan, which, as the minister said, is the first of its kind in Scotland.
The town centre housing fund, the town centre investment zones, the extension of the fresh start scheme and the money that is being provided for town centre charrettes are all examples of innovative approaches to reinvigorating town centres that I—and, I am sure, all other members—very much welcome. I heard some concern being expressed about the levels of funding for some of the measures, but the fact that they have been put in place should be welcomed by all members.
The one thing that I have not mentioned that is set out in the town centre action plan is the town centre first principle. I broadly agree with the principle—it is not that different from existing principles for retail. However, I hope that we can be clear—the minister will perhaps respond—that it is not a hard-and-fast, absolute rule stopping development outwith the town centre entirely.
Town centre first is a principle that will be very applicable in most cases—for example for Kilsyth within my constituency, which is a town of 10,000 with a concentrated population very close to the town centre. However, in cases such as Cumbernauld, which is a much bigger town of 50,000 people with some people living quite far away from the town centre, development outwith the town centre is appropriate—although development in the town centre is very much needed as well. I look forward to seeing what emerges from the discussions with COSLA in that regard. I also look forward to seeing the action plan being rolled out further and, I hope, reinvigorating Cumbernauld and Kilsyth town centres and town centres across the country.
16:36
The town centre first principle—to put the health of town centres at the heart of a thriving local economy—is very welcome. I find it strange that we thought differently in the past and strange that we thought that making anything other than the town centre the most important place for people to shop, meet, socialise and enjoy was a good idea.
I am pleased that we have recognised that the town centres cannot be only about retail, important as that may be. I will come back to retail later. The world has changed and we should not strive to have the town centres of the past. A good mix of places to live, eat, work and shop makes the town centre attractive.
Housing is a key part of the future but a change in the attitude of public bodies is needed. In my region, the old town of Edinburgh community council recently folded after years and years of feeling that the development of the city centre was not about the people who live there, despite the council’s strenuous efforts to try to make it so.
Private rented housing is prevalent in city centres and on high streets. If we want to attract people back there, it is important that tenants’ rights are strengthened and that privately renting tenants get a good deal in the new Housing (Scotland) Bill.
Convenience is essential—the convenience of online retail offers an opportunity for town centre retailers. We could try to support local retailers to get online to enable them to compete with the big retailers offering click and collect. We could make it the norm for people to order some food from the local butcher and greengrocer online during the office lunch break and collect it on their way home from work.
Walking and cycling access to town centres should be given more priority and I have written to the minister about that on behalf of the cross-party group on cycling. As Sarah Boyack said, walking and cycling access is the only action that the Government deems to be long term when it should be designed in from the start of any improvements.
Our train and bus stations need to be welcoming—they need to encourage people into the town centres with clear walking routes to the shops and cafes. Existing out-of-town shopping centres could be seen as park-and-ride facilities to help connect more people with the town centre. Micro-businesses could be supported in town centres through hubs with advice and hot desks.
The amendment that I lodged for the debate talked about local taxation. Devolution is important but not just from Westminster to Holyrood—the real value in devolution of power is from Holyrood to our local councils, which can decide on local solutions. Local authorities should be able to decide the right balance of different taxes to meet their social, environmental and economic needs, in line with the priorities of local voters. Local councillors may decide that their local economies would be bolstered by local sourcing, extension of the living wage or increased employee participation and they should have the ability to promote those options.
The business rates incentivisation scheme exists but it is the poor cousin of true local taxation, which creates genuine economic incentives for local investment in new high-quality employment.
As Sarah Boyack and Margaret McCulloch noted, one size does not fit all. The needs of the high street in Edinburgh are different from those of the high street in Bathgate, Livingston or Linlithgow. Councils are better placed to understand that and should be able to design a business rates regime that works for them. We need to have the confidence to let them do so.
16:40
A number of speeches in the debate highlighted the importance of our local businesses to our town centres. As my colleague Gavin Brown made clear, the Scottish Government must do more on rates relief and we must have concrete progress on business rates incentivisation. We need a healthy environment for small businesses to thrive, not only to encourage start-ups, although that is important, but to support the businesses that are already trading.
I say that because, for many people, the objective is not simply to attract and sustain businesses but to achieve a mix of different shops and services. I was interested to note that, in the Portas review in England, particular attention was paid to the high proportion of betting shops in our communities, particularly in deprived areas. At the same time, a Competition Commission report in 2008 found a significant decline in the old staples of the high street, including independent grocers, bakers and butchers.
People complain to me that every high street looks the same. If we go to a small town in America or Italy, we see local shops, not chains, run by local people. Variety is the key word. We cannot legislate for it, but we can encourage it. It is important not merely for cosmetic reasons but because choice and quality products and services are the key to attracting people to the high street.
There is broad agreement that our town centres are losing out to out-of-town developments and large supermarkets. Accordingly, it is crucial that we create a level playing field and give small businesses the means to compete and not only provide local employment but give consumers a genuine choice when it comes to their shopping. For that to happen, we need to provide not only a competitive business rates regime but the facilities to draw people back into town centres. That includes park and ride.
In that respect, I welcome the movement on planning towards a presumption in favour of town centres. We must give local authorities the means to breathe life back into our high streets. Flexibility in the planning system is crucial to that, but we need more than planning reform to deliver much-needed town centre facilities.
When we speak to people about why they do not visit their local high street at present, one of the key reasons that is often cited is the difficulties in getting there. Although we must encourage sustainable transport where possible, including park and ride, the lack of parking facilities in many town centres, even for five minutes to stop and pick something up, is a big issue. As Alison Johnstone said, if someone is going to shop online and pick something up at lunch time, for example, they need to get into the town. That is why out-of-town centres are often attractive in comparison.
To deliver that sort of change, we need to provide financial resources. It is regrettable that we are not coming up with the funding to provide those much-needed facilities, whether it be for parking or for making it easier for people to travel via public transport. I come again to the point about the level playing field. We must make it just as easy and just as attractive to go to the high street as to the nearest retail park. I hope that our town centre guru can take that point on board.
A great deal can be done to support our town centres, but the Government must start by taking action on business rates and giving local businesses a fighting chance. We cannot legislate to stop every high street having the same multiples, but we can stop certain shops proliferating. We cannot prevent payday lenders from opening a shop, but we can legislate against too many of them opening. The same is true with betting shops.
16:43
Although the debate has been brief, it has been good with lots of practical ideas for real town centres throughout the country. There has also been some constructive criticism of the Government’s town centre plan.
The challenges of bringing regeneration to our town centres will not go away. The challenge of competing with out-of-town retail parks will continue. Elaine Murray’s points were absolutely spot on.
One of the challenges for the minister is to think about his role as a champion for town centres and how to make the town centre first principle real and ensure that it is applied across Government and the public sector. He needs to consider his planning powers. There is an interesting challenge to be thought about in that. I know that the minister is keen to devolve planning decisions and for central Government not to take a strong role, but there is a balance to be struck in terms of the guidelines and his power to call in major planning applications. I leave that thought with him, because there is a real issue about how he exercises those powers.
Several members commented that the challenges that town centres face are also relevant in our cities and villages, although the scales are different. We need to learn from best practice. Edinburgh’s George Street, for example, is not successful by accident. The City of Edinburgh Council invested a lot of time, money and resource to develop a strategy to attract the right sort of retailers to make it work, and it did a lot of work for the business community. Bob Doris and Alison Johnstone were absolutely right to say that, as well as thinking about individual town centres, we need to think about city centres. They, too, need specific strategies.
Several members mentioned the cost of living crisis and the significant impact that it is having on retailing and people’s capacity to spend. It is interesting that even those retailers that discounted heavily in the run-up to Christmas reported an incredibly tough retailing climate. The period before Christmas and the new year period are the best time for retailers to get people into the shops. I think that those challenges will continue, particularly for those town centres that are caught in a spiral of decline, where retailers are struggling to keep up with the pace of change. They need practical help, because the pace of change is beyond the capacity of many smaller retailers to deal with.
We now have new types of retailing. There are third-party traders who work with other retailers online. Small companies will not necessarily hold the necessary technological and business strategy skills. A number of colleagues made points about the need to target support for businesses. Margaret McCulloch’s points about the use of the small business bonus scheme to target support at small businesses were bang on. They need support for training and they need to have access to business advice that it is not easy for them to get.
The points that Gavin Brown and Margaret McCulloch made about the reality of the business rates incentivisation scheme were bang on. Local authorities believed in good faith that that pot of money was going to come to them. Those council leaders to whom I have spoken have been bitterly disappointed about how that has worked out in practice. When the Scottish Government announces a scheme, it must follow it through. The withdrawal of that incentive has led to many real problems in our communities.
A few members mentioned the community empowerment and renewal bill. In my opening speech, I mentioned compulsory purchase orders. There are many other opportunities to which greater community involvement in our town centres can give rise. Community ownership and opportunities for social enterprises, co-operatives and bottom-up, community-led cultural initiatives to locate in town centres alongside cafes and—crucially—new housing properties could all help to turn round and revitalise our town centres. There are many good initiatives.
Jayne Baxter—she wanted to speak in the debate, but she knew that it was a short one—told me about the night and day challenge fund that is being looked at in Cowdenbeath. I found it interesting that it targets young people and asks them how they think the town centre could be improved for the future. We need to get the next generation involved rather than make assumptions about how it will use town centres.
The research on online shopping shows that the situation is changing, almost by the day. It is no longer the case that people just use their computers to shop when they go home at night; they now use tablets and smartphones to order things as they sit on the bus. On one level, that is fantastic, but the pace of change is hard to cope with. For small retailers and producers, access to better advice and to knowledge about how they can develop their strategy could be hugely important.
We now have a champion for small towns, but there is a lot that the minister needs to do to use his leadership capacity. What research capacity could he put in place? The impact of the raft of business support that is available needs to be monitored. We do not think that that is done consistently, and we think that more could be done. For example, what impact has the legislation on empty properties that we passed last year had? At the time, we discussed whether it would be effective. What research has the minister put in place? To what extent have councils used the powers that they have in relation to housing in town centres?
How is the minister pulling together the innovation opportunities that have arisen from business investment, to pick up the ideas in the report that the Federation of Small Businesses has presented to us today? I would like a focus on training, which provides an opportunity. If that is tied into town centre investment in housing, win-wins will be available. However, that must be targeted and the research must be done. That research needs to drive Scottish Government policy.
On Tuesday, we debated climate change. Yesterday, we debated health. If the Scottish Government is serious about its target that 10 per cent of all trips should be made by bike within the next six years, town centres are critical to that. Joined-up Government thinking is needed.
Promoting town and city centres could help to address our wider policy ambitions on public health, community involvement and ownership, and economic regeneration for our communities. However, we must link in local businesses and entrepreneurs. We must focus on the needs and opportunities.
It is in the minister’s grasp to use his leadership to do more. We were totally disappointed by the scale of the boxing day Christmas present, which was too modest. I am sure that the minister knows that it did not go far enough. On top of the slashing of the capital budget for housing by 29 per cent, there has been a missed opportunity on housing in town centres.
I hope that, in summing up, the minister will talk about what more can be done. The debate has been constructive. We have heard constructive criticism and I hope that we will get constructive answers.
16:51
To follow on from where Sarah Boyack left off, I say that modesty is my middle name, but I am delighted that Parliament has in the debate elevated my responsibility for town centres. I knew that I had a job on my hands to deliver the action plan and ensure that it is consistent, and to support town centres across Scotland, but I now have the new title of town centre champion. I will inform the Minister for Parliamentary Business of that following this afternoon’s constructive discussion.
The debate has been good, and a number of ideas have been presented. Such ideas will feature as the work continues. I have never said that the action plan would go on a shelf and be an end in itself. It was the beginning of a debate about, and a process for, the tools that we can deploy to support town centres across the country.
Our response is as concise as the external advisory group’s report is in focusing on themes, which is welcome. We could all regurgitate many words in talking about actions that we might want to deploy, but we are focusing on a specific action plan that outlines what we intend to do. There is a challenge for partners—not just in the public sector but in the private sector—in how they respond by supporting schemes such as local loyalty cards or participation in the digital revolution.
Among the themes that we have outlined, we will put a great deal of emphasis on town centre living, vibrant local economies and enterprising communities in order to develop the entrepreneurial spirit that we know exists across the country, particularly among young people. We will emphasise accessible public services and the focus on digital towns and proactive planning, which we have discussed.
I know that a number of members wanted to speak this afternoon but could not do so. They include George Adam from Paisley, who will be delighted that Margaret McCulloch mentioned Paisley as an example of a can-do town—it has a proud past and a promising future. Such branding is only too relevant to local communities, as Dr Elaine Smith said—
Murray.
I am sorry; I meant Elaine Murray. We should focus on local branding—we must get that right—to promote the unique selling point of communities. The Borders towns have done well at establishing and focusing on a niche market.
Margaret McCulloch was right about finding local solutions to the challenges that communities face. The approach to our town centres will never be that one size fits all. We will ensure that the support package exists for each town centre to find and promote its place in our nation. That is why I particularly welcome the development of charrettes. As I have said before, the charrette is not a French band, but a planning methodology that engages people in real time to produce an action plan that can deliver a practical and pragmatic vision for a community.
That is why we are now directing our emphasis at town centres and at delivery of our telecommunications strategy. I will shortly launch a consultation on the introduction of a more liberal and permissive regime of consents for telecommunications apparatus in order that we can ensure that all parts of Scotland benefit from the digital revolution of which we are part. We absolutely want to make sure that advice and support on that are available for businesses.
Gavin Brown’s contribution was pretty negative, all in all. He is well aware that the nature of the business rates incentivisation scheme is such that deployment of new targets is a decision that is made not by the Scottish Government but by COSLA, which wants to audit its own figures before we arrive at new targets. We have not moved the goalposts. We have analysed the business rates take, appeals and other factors.
The minister says that he did not move the goalposts, so is he saying that the targets that were set for 2012-13 were not changed at all?
We are abiding by the same rules that apply to and were deployed by the business rates incentivisation scheme. What has changed is the impact of appeals on the figures. That is a significant and material change, so we are perfectly entitled to take those figures into account. Why would we replicate in BRIS+ a scheme that has deficiencies that we want to iron out?
Gavin Brown mentioned the reaction of the external advisory group, so I am only too happy to quote Malcolm Fraser, who said of the Government’s response on the town centre action plan—these are his words, not mine—
“I’m impressed at the Government’s determination to promote a new, town-centred culture across its policy-making and decision-taking. Next is for Local Authorities to embrace the challenges and opportunities this brings, and for our business and communities to be encouraged and enabled.”
Every member would agree that it is for others to consider their response to the external advisory group’s findings so that we can move forward in partnership.
Sarah Boyack and Alison Johnstone mentioned accessibility in our town centres, and focused on cycling. The Government will give that further thought and deliberate on how we might take that forward. I know that four ministers were represented at a recent meeting on cycling. As I said, we will give it further thought.
I will absolutely commit to the serious request from Bob Doris about how we tackle the issue of businesses that we do not want to see too many more of on our high streets, whether they be gambling premises or payday loan providers. I will therefore convene a summit to look at the planning, licensing, and any other functions and good practice that exist in local government and elsewhere that mean we can clamp down on that sort of property. I will do so on a cross-party basis and pull in interested members including Kezia Dugdale, who has raised the issue before. That is the right way to create the kind of diversity that our local communities want in our town centres.
Jamie Hepburn made a point about how the policy applies. The town centre first policy is not a barrier to development and to growth. It is the extension of the sequential approach in which we apply a methodology to see whether, if development is taking place, it can take place in the town centre first. If it cannot, we look elsewhere. We are talking about enabling economic growth while considering net growth and displacement.
I was asked why it is taking so long to introduce the proposed community empowerment bill. We intend to consult on it comprehensively because if there is one bill that we want to get right by engaging fully, surely it is the community empowerment bill. We are having an exhaustive consultation process to ensure that we get it right.
Town centres are important to Scotland and I know that the FSB and other private sector organisations have impressed on the Government the importance of the small business bonus and having a competitive rates regime. That is why I am at a loss to know why the Labour Party has opposed our actions on matching the poundage south of the border, has opposed our actions on the fresh start initiative to incentivise people to open premises, and has opposed our actions on empty property rates relief. In fact, the Labour Party would rather compensate people to keep premises closed than let them open them and rejuvenate the town centres of Scotland.
If the minister looks through his books, he will find that it was Jack McConnell who introduced a competitive business regime so that businesses in Scotland were not worse off than those in England.
For many years when the Labour Party was in office, the poundage was higher than the poundage under the SNP Government. Aside from that, Jack McConnell is not here, but other members of the Labour Party are, and they have said that they would sacrifice the small business bonus to pay for other policies that the Labour Party now supports. The package of business rates relief—with the extension of fresh start, the delivery of new start, which as I said is being copied south of the border, the matching of the poundage and the small business bonus, which gives so much relief—has been a godsend to town centres across the country.
From our external advisory group analysis and our action plan, I am convinced that the proactive actions that we will take, the partnership approach that we have deployed, our decisions on budgets and the general enthusiasm that we will bring to rejuvenating our town centres will ensure that conditions are set such that our town centres will enjoy the economic recovery that has been experienced in so many parts as a result of the actions of the Government and others.
I ask you to draw to a close.
That is in the face of a reckless Labour Party that has produced no budget options to support our town centres.
You should close now, please.
I will leave with the conclusion that, when it comes to ideas, Labour has some but, when it comes to budget decisions, it has none. The proposal to sacrifice town centres by abandoning the rates package is a big mistake on the part of the Labour Party.