Question reference: S5W-25165
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 5 September 2019
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Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 12 September 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what alternatives to compulsory sale orders it has considered to ensure that local authorities have the power to purchase vacant properties.
Answer
Local authorities already possess Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers and a number of authorities have utilised these in recent years to take possession of empty and derelict residential properties in order to bring them back into use or to replace them with modern affordable housing. We are committed to supporting authorities to utilise their existing CPO powers and in the past 2 years have:
- published a new suite of guidance that takes authorities through the CPO process from beginning to end;
- met with around 26 local authorities to discuss the potential use of CPO;
- published a series of case studies on the use of CPO – including for empty homes;
- held a training event with the Empty Homes Partnership on the use of CPO for empty homes; and
- hosted three training and good practice sharing events for local authority staff on the use of CPO more generally, which were attended by over 200 delegates.
In addition, we have empowered communities to address the problems caused by vacant properties. The Part 3A Community Right-to-Buy allows communities to buy buildings and land that are abandoned, neglected or detrimental. This is a compulsory purchase power, and if Ministers approve a community’s application, the owner must sell, whether or not they planned to do so.