Chamber and committees

Adrian, do you want to comment on any of these issues? Does your organisation see anything positive on the horizon? What more needs to be done?

Euan, do you want to comment not just on the national planning framework but on the 2019 act and what needs to be done to make them a reality?

What about the areas that are not covered by SOSE and HIE? We have heard that—

Our next item of business is consideration of petition PE1676 on the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012, which has been referred to the committee under rule 15.6 of standing orders.

The petition is continued from the previous parliamentary session, and was lodged by Tony Rosser in 2017. As is outlined in members’ papers, the petition seeks a review of the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012. The petition focuses on two issues: the relationship between the statutory cadastral map showing the legal boundaries to registered land and property, which is maintained by Registers of Scotland, and the Ordnance Survey map on which the cadastral map is based; and on what supporting materials should be required when submitting an individual application for registration of land and property.

The petition was previously considered by the session 5 Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee. In December, this committee sought an update from the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth on the Scottish Government’s position on the issues that are raised in the petition. I refer members to the minister’s response, which is included as an annexe to the paper. The minister confirms that the Scottish Government’s position has not changed since the petition was previously considered.

In advance of today’s meeting, Mr Rosser submitted some additional information in response to the minister’s update; that information has been circulated to members. I thank Mr Rosser for taking the time to make that submission and I appreciate his reasons for lodging the petition.

Do members have any comments on how the committee should approach the petition?

Good morning, and welcome to the 13th meeting in 2022 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. We have received apologies from Colin Smyth. Fiona Hyslop will join us later, as she has another commitment.

Our first item of business is to continue evidence gathering for our town centres and retail inquiry. The broad theme for today is keeping town centres alive, with a focus on town centre living and property stock. I welcome our panel: Euan Leitch, chief executive of SURF—Scotland’s Regeneration Forum; Stephen Lewis, vice-chair of the Scottish Property Federation; Craig McLaren, director of the Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland; and Adrian Watson, chair of the Association of Town and City Management. Thank you for joining us.

As always, it will be helpful if members and witnesses can keep their questions and answers concise. Each witness should understand that they will not be invited to answer every question, but they will all have the opportunity to contribute at some point.

No other members have comments.

Given what has been said, I think that it is the committee’s decision to close the petition. I recognise the very difficult situation that Mr Rosser has experienced, and I know how disappointed and frustrated petitioners can be when a petition is closed without the resolution that they seek. However, I assure Mr Rosser that the committee takes its role in scrutinising the work of the keeper of the registers of Scotland seriously. As others have said, we have given a commitment to receiving regular updates from and holding regular witness sessions with the keeper. When we speak to the keeper in the future, we will keep on our agenda the issues and concerns that Mr Rosser has raised.

We now move into private session.

Stephen Lewis mentioned capacity in planning departments, and I note that one of the submissions refers to retiral rates for and the shortage of planners. Is that an issue?

My question relates to business rates. Changes will be introduced in 2023, but the issue keeps coming up. What additional changes do you want to see?

As Michelle said, there is the “what” and the “how”. The job of the committee is to understand the situation and to come forward with proposals and ideas that we think could ease some of the pressures that are being faced.

The submissions from the Property Federation and the Royal Town Planning Institute both talk about national planning framework 4 and the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, and I think that they both referred to masterplan consent areas. Does anybody want to say a bit about the changes that are on the horizon—some of the things that you identified such as the town centre first principle—and how they can be enforced? How do we strengthen things that are already in place and things that are coming through? That would be helpful for the committee, as would your thoughts on anything that is missing. Is there anything additional that could be done?

I am sorry to interrupt, but I will bring in Gillian Crawford. I am the only person who can see her request to speak, because of where I am sitting, and I think that she was interested in the first question that you asked, Michelle.