Chamber and committees

I welcome this morning’s second panel of witnesses. We are joined by Danny Cepok, development manager of Love Oor Lang Toun; Anthea Coulter, chief officer and business manager of Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface; Gemma Cruickshank, manager of the Embrace Elgin business improvement district; and Mark Darragh, vice-chair of the One Linlithgow business improvement district.

As always, I ask members and witnesses to keep their questions and answers as concise as possible. Members will direct questions to witnesses. You might not get the opportunity to answer every question but you will have a chance to contribute.

I will start by asking a few questions about the BIDs. We have two representatives of BIDs on this morning’s panel, and I will go to Mark Darragh first. I am interested in the key challenges in establishing a BID and what the limits of a BID might be. We heard from the first panel this morning about the importance of community engagement, but BIDs are a bit more business focused. Culture Counts also said that it was concerned about not always feeling engaged with the BID and that culture is not always considered. Mark, do you want to say something about the key challenges in establishing a BID and what its limits might be?

Good morning and welcome to the ninth meeting in 2022 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Our first item of business is to decide whether to take agenda item 3 and consideration of the evidence that is heard in our town centres and retail inquiry at future meetings in private. Do members agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

We have a visit to Dumfries planned, and we will make sure that we ask those questions.

Jamie Halcro Johnston mentioned our round-table session last week. We heard a lot of comments about business rates and requests for reform of the system, which was not unexpected. You might be aware of the Fraser of Allander Institute’s recently published report on the small business bonus scheme. Do you have any reflections or comments to make on the role of business rates in addressing some of the challenges? How might we resolve some of the frustrations that we have heard from the sector?

Thank you very much, Professor Sparks. You have identified lots of issues that the committee is interested in, and I am sure that our questions will pick up on aspects of what you have said.

Although this is a town centre and retail inquiry, the committee is aware of the difference between the two. We are reaching out to get views from a wide range across society and among everyone who is interested in the future of their town centres, to ensure that we produce a rounded report.

You have outlined some of the work that you have been involved in—I think that the most recent piece of work was the publication of “A New Future for Scotland’s Town Centres”, which was about a year ago and, as you said, was a review of the town centre action plan. The report makes three big recommendations. I acknowledge that the past year has been a difficult one because of the pandemic and everything else that has been happening, but can you update the committee on what progress there has been on those recommendations and what status the document has?

You have talked about the complexities of the issues, but are there areas where you think action could be taken immediately or quickly to ease some of the difficulties and make some progress in town centres?

For Professor Sparks’s information, the committee has commissioned, and is awaiting, a piece of work to look at international—possibly European—examples of successful regeneration of town centres.

Our next item of business is the first formal session in our inquiry into Scotland’s town centres and retail. This is the committee’s second inquiry. We will consider the current condition of Scotland’s town centres, particularly following Covid-19. We are interested in looking at new realities for Scottish retail, and we will focus on e-commerce activity and innovative ways to keep town centres alive. We are interested in looking at what is driving that change and how we can support communities to regenerate their town centres.

Last week, the committee had an informal engagement event in which we engaged with stakeholders from across Scotland to hear their views and set the scene for the inquiry.

I welcome Professor Leigh Sparks, who is deputy principal and professor of retail studies at the University of Stirling. As always, members and witnesses should keep questions and answers as concise as possible. I invite Professor Sparks to make a short opening statement.

That brings us to the end of our evidence-taking session. Professor Sparks, you have shared your views on many areas of expertise this morning, and we appreciate the time that you have given us.

That concludes the public part of the meeting.

You have outlined all the workstreams that are going on and the plans that are in place. What do you think the committee’s inquiry should focus on that would bring additional knowledge and proposals to the table? What are the areas of the discussion that we could bring value to?

Thank you. Colin Beattie will ask the next questions.