Chamber and committees

Catriona, could you explain for those of us who are not into the planning lore what “conditioned” means?

I agree with you. Certainly, I have seen great examples of terracing and of two-storey and maybe even three-storey houses working really well in their landscape. I know that there is sensitivity about building high and that we have to be thoughtful about where to do that, but I have seen it working well. There are also two-level buildings that are one and a half storeys high, and that kind of thing. I observe that in terraces of houses that are all next to each other, blocks of houses or flats are heated, rather than individual houses being heated, which takes a lot more energy.

I will go back to my specific example. Regarding applications to build housing on existing infill or gap sites, or to extend an existing group of domestic—or non-domestic—buildings, I imagine that such sites would surely have been in the local development plan, because housing already exists. There is something else at play, so maybe there is something to unearth around other policies.

That was a really helpful response: you said plenty. Does anyone else want to come in? Craig McLaren will answer, then I will move on. We are over time, but the subject is important and we still have a few questions to get into.

How would you see that happening? Would there be in-person meetings, with an initial discussion and discussions at points in the process?

Great. [Laughter.] Jenny?

We do what we can in the committee to help with that.

Certainly. With one drop into a busy curriculum, how do you get that follow-through? I have a sense that any young person who is concerned about the climate and nature emergency should go into planning because they could have a great effect there.

Mark Griffin has a question.

Those two questions were about climate, nature and biodiversity policies, but I will pull in a piece around rural house building. You have talked about community-led development and development in rural areas. I will bring in Donna Young on this as well, because of her Rural Housing Scotland hat. As far as you can see, are the policies supporting rural house building and the placemaking aspect, especially where there is a need to support significant economic and infrastructure development? If not, what needs to change?

Thanks. We have a couple of supplementary questions on the MATHLR. Mark wanted to come in; he is joining us online.

Your point about the need to relearn urban living is a good one. There are some great examples of that. Moray Council is leading on a very good example in Elgin, with a bit of town centre regeneration that will be mixed use. We also have a fantastic example in Dumfries, where there is community-led mixed use, including housing, in the Midsteeple Quarter.

Donna, what are your thoughts on the balance?