Chamber and committees

Thank you. It was important to hear that perspective

The third item on our agenda is consideration of a negative instrument. The committee is not required to make any recommendations on the regulations. If there are no comments, does the committee agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to the regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

As agreed earlier in the meeting, we will consider items 4 and 5 in private.

We have a little time left, as panel members have all been very good at answering succinctly. I will open it up and ask whether any of you has anything else that you feel we should hear or that you want to underscore? Just put an R in the chat if you want to come in. I am particularly keen to give Nicola Robison a chance to add anything that she feels has not been aired, since she has not had many opportunities. We will start with Andrew Mitchell and then Ailsa Raeburn.

Welcome to the 15th meeting in 2021 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. We have received apologies from committee member Paul McLennan.

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.

Our first agenda item is a decision on whether to take items?4 and 5 in private. Item?4? is an opportunity for members to reflect on the evidence that we will take today on short-term lets, and item 5 is a chance for the committee to agree its approach to budget scrutiny for 2022-23.

No members object, so we agree to take items? 4 and 5 in private.

The second agenda item is to take evidence as part of the committee’s work on short-term lets. This is the second of three sessions on the regulations. The committee will hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government next week.

I welcome Tony Cain, who is the policy manager at the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers; Andrew Mitchell, from regulatory services at the City of Edinburgh Council; Ailsa Raeburn, who is the chair of Community Land Scotland; Chief Inspector Nicola Robison, from Police Scotland; and Leon Thompson, who is the executive director of UK Hospitality for Scotland. Thank you for joining us.

If witnesses wish to respond or contribute to the discussion, please type R in the chat box. We will move straight to questions.

I direct the first questions to Ailsa Raeburn and Andrew Mitchell. Will the proposed short-term let licensing system be effective in tackling the negative impacts of some short-term lets on neighbours and communities? Also, do local authorities require overprovision powers?

I have a quick supplementary for Ailsa Raeburn and Andrew Mitchell. The survey responses that were submitted to the committee raised concerns that the proposed legislation was designed to tackle issues that are experienced principally in central Edinburgh. Taking that into consideration, what are your views on how short-term lets and housing demands would interact in rural and island contexts?

This has been a very informative session, so I thank the panel very much for joining us. Ailsa Raeburn, I take your point about needing to hear more community voices on the matter. I trust that the panellists have managed to air all their views.

I direct my next question to Tony Cain and Leon Thompson. What are your views on the changes that were made to the draft licensing order from the version that was presented to our predecessor committee in February?

Andrew Mitchell, I called on you, but you may not have a rural perspective. Do you want to come in? I see that Tony Cain also wants to come in.