Chamber and committees

I come back to the issue of spatial squeeze. We have heard about the importance of our waters and about all the things that we are trying to accomplish in that regard. Highly protected marine areas will be an important tool for strategically protecting key areas of our inshore waters. The Bute house agreement specifies that HPMAs will cover at least 20 per cent our seas, including parts of our inshore waters. Users of the inshore space will want to know what that means for them. I have met inshore fishers and other folk about that, and it seems as though people are quite worried, because they do not know what the change really means, what the timescale is and how they can be involved. Could the cabinet secretary outline the next steps for HPMA designation and confirm whether there will be genuine no-take zones that are closed to all fishing, aquaculture and other extractive or depositional commercial activities?

Good morning and welcome to the 22nd meeting in 2022 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. We have received apologies from Annie Wells and Mark Griffin. I ask all members and witnesses to ensure that their mobile phones are on silent and that all other notifications are turned off during the meeting.

Agenda item 1 is a decision on taking business in private. Do members agree to take in private item 3, which is consideration of the evidence that we will hear on the affordable housing programme during our pre-budget scrutiny, and item 4, which is consideration of our approach on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill’s legislative consent memorandum?

Members indicated agreement.

Those are very useful points.

I move to a question around place, which I will direct to Ken Gibb and Ailsa Raeburn. As we have started to hear, many communities in the Highlands and Islands have suffered historical underfunding and forced depopulation, which left them fragile and with declining populations. It is crucial that we support those communities and create ones where people feel ownership.

With that point in mind, and with the emphasis on the importance of place in the Scottish Government’s “Housing to 2040” policy document, is there anything that the Scottish Government and its partners need to do to ensure that new affordable homes are developed in sustainable places where people want to live and—I would say—developed in a sustainable way?

Ailsa, would you like to come in on that question?

We move to the next theme, which is progress on delivering affordable homes and balancing priorities. We have quite a few questions to get through, but some of them will be directed to specific witnesses.

Do you want to ask question 11?

We move on to our third theme, which is the scope for different ways of financing and delivering affordable homes and prioritising resources when capital funding is under pressure.

Thanks for pointing us to the fact that things are done differently in other parts of the world.

That concludes our questions. Thank you for speaking to us this morning. I have certainly picked up quite a few things to think about.

I am sorry—I see that Gary Fairley wants to come in on that final question.

Agenda item 2 is an evidence-taking session on affordable housing provision in Scotland as part of this year’s pre-budget scrutiny. We are joined in person by Professor Ken Gibb, who is director of the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, at the University of Glasgow; Aaron Hill, who is director of policy and membership at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations; and Fionna Kell, who is director of policy at Homes for Scotland.

We are also joined online—I think that I can see you all—by Ailsa Raeburn, who is the chair of Community Land Scotland; Sherina Peek, who is acting policy manager at the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers; Mike Callaghan, who is policy manager in the communities team of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; and Gary Fairley, who is director of corporate services at Midlothian Council, who is also appearing on behalf of COSLA. I welcome you all.

I will open the session to questions from members and will begin by asking about national targets and outcomes, which I am interested to hear from the panellists about. Before I dive in, however, there is a little bit of housekeeping to do with regard to how I will run the session. Because of time constraints, members will possibly direct their initial question to one of you, but if anyone else wants to come in, please indicate that to me or the clerk. Those who are attending online should indicate as much by typing an R in the chat function.

On national targets and outcomes, do panellists think that the Scottish Government targets for housing needs and outcomes are clear? Furthermore, do the targets need to be revisited? I will start with Mike Callaghan and then bring in Professor Gibb and Sherina Peek.