Chamber and committees

Thank you, minister. It is heartening to have heard your comments, which picked up on a number of issues that have come up for the committee.

I have a number of questions, so I will start, then open up the session to colleagues. My first few questions are about the NPF4 process. I understand that it arises from planning legislation, but NPF2 and NPF3, before they were introduced in Parliament, were subject to considerably more public scrutiny than the draft NPF4. Why was a similar approach not taken to NPF4?

Good morning, and welcome to the sixth meeting in 2022 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I ask all members and witnesses to ensure that their mobile phones are in silent mode, and that all notifications are turned off during the meeting.

We have two items on our agenda, both of which relate to the fourth national planning framework. First, we will hold our final evidence session in the inquiry with the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, Tom Arthur, then we will go into private session to consider the issues that have been raised in evidence.

Mr Arthur is joined by Scottish Government officials. Fiona Simpson is the chief planner, Andy Kinnaird is the head of planning transformation and Helen Wood, who is joining us online, is the head of planning performance. I would be grateful if Mr Arthur could, in order to allow our broadcasting team to activate her microphone, make it clear when he wishes to bring in Ms Wood to respond to specific questions. I welcome Mr Arthur and his officials to the meeting.

I intend to allow up to 90 minutes for this session. Before I invite the minister to make opening remarks, I place on the record the committee’s thanks to everyone who has helped to inform this important piece of work. In particular, I thank SURF—Scotland’s Regeneration Forum, the Built Environment Forum Scotland, Rural Housing Scotland, Scottish Rural Action, Voluntary Health Scotland, Scotland’s Towns Partnership and the Scottish Youth Parliament, all of which provided invaluable input to our scrutiny. I know that members particularly enjoyed the visits and online workshops, which really helped us to understand the ways in which planning impacts on communities and the importance of getting the planning framework right. I thank everyone who has assisted our work on the topic.

Before I open up to questions from the committee, I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.

Thank you, Meghan.

Thank you for that response. We look forward to that.

I thank you and your officials for your evidence today, and I want to let you know that the committee expects to publish its report on the draft national planning framework in April.

We will have a short break before we reconvene in private for item 2. As that was the only public item on our agenda, I now close the public part of the meeting.

It is exciting that so many people across Scotland from so many sectors are engaging with the process. The committee and I share your view that the approach has the potential to transform planning.

I think that Fiona Simpson used the word “proposal”. Once the document moves from a draft to a proposal, and once you have taken on board all the perspectives—I appreciate that you are doing all that listening—that might change some of the language, which will involve thinking through the detail. After that, when will the committee and other stakeholders have an opportunity to review and scrutinise that and give feedback?

Thank you for that clarity.

Before I bring in Willie Coffey, I will bring in Meghan Gallacher again, as we have a bit of housekeeping to tidy up.

Thank you. That is welcome.

Graeme Dey has a supplementary question.

I have a question about national planning policy 3, which puts a duty on developers to facilitate biodiversity enhancement but does not explain how they should demonstrate that. Will a framework or mechanism be established for developers to demonstrate that they are meeting that obligation, or will guidance be provided?

Have any of the companies that received hardship funding through the marine fund Scotland from the Scottish Government in the past two years also received fixed- penalty notices or been referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for breaches of fisheries rules?