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Displaying 466 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
In previous exchanges, you have talked about the Government taking forward these changes as they are felt to be the most urgent changes that need to be made. You have also said that there is a difference of opinion in the sector about what is the most urgent and pressing issue. Do you have a timescale for when the Government plans to address the other issues that are being raised that you perhaps do not see as being as urgent?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
How do you respond to the concerns that have been expressed by short-term let operators that the proposed changes in the amendment order are not sufficient to deal with the challenges that they see in the sector as a result of the licensing scheme?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
I will not be voting against the order. I am happy to see it proceed, but I cannot vote positively for it.
The minister mentioned the Scottish Tourism Alliance. Its submission to the committee said that the order was
“a positive first step in addressing some of the issues that have emerged since the introduction of the STLs scheme.”
That was not the full extent of what it said, though. It continued:
“However, it remains the case that a far more significant review of how the Short-Term Lets ... Licensing Scheme is operating in practice is needed if we are to safeguard these businesses and to protect and enhance the visitor accommodation offer”.
It is, therefore, clear that there is disappointment in the sector that the order does not go far enough.
I would not wish to block the small improvements that the scheme has made, but it has wide-ranging impacts that still need to be addressed. The Government has convened its own industry advisory group, which has made recommendations that have not been fully listened to or implemented. I am not quite clear why we need to approach the issue in such a piecemeal fashion, and I am not sure why all the recommendations could not have been implemented.
When the committee made its initial decision on approval of the scheme, it was very finely balanced. I would have much preferred to see the Government taking an approach similar to that employed on the tourism visitor levy. It encouraged local democratic control, in that councils could choose not only how they would implement the scheme but whether they would implement it at all. I feel that some areas of the country do not need a short-term lets licensing scheme at all. I would have preferred there to be much more local say in how such a scheme should be run.
Although the bill makes small steps towards addressing some of the issues that the industry has raised, we should have been conducting a far more comprehensive review and a much more wide-ranging implementation plan. I do not see why we could not have come to that point today.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
The Government committed to publishing a full monitoring report before the summer, which has obviously been affected by advice around election period publications. Will that be published as soon as possible after 4 July?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
Do any members of the panel have comments on the provisions in the bill that allow a tenant or a prospective tenant to request to keep a pet or to make changes to the property, beyond the suggestions that James Calder has already made?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
Something else that we have been hearing about through our evidence taking is the interaction between the licensing scheme and the planning system. Short-term let operators have been asking for the approach to be clarified and made more consistent, as things seem to operate differently in different parts of the country. You have spoken about it essentially being a localised scheme with differences in policies. However, is the Government hearing the same concerns about how the licensing scheme is interacting with the planning system in different parts of the country? Are there any plans to issue guidance on that?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
You have referred to the industry advisory group, which you meet with regularly and which made a number of recommendations that are not included in the order. I would like to hear the Government’s thinking on why it has chosen not to include those recommendations in the order.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
This is my final area of questioning. Will you outline any initial findings from the Government’s monitoring of the licensing system’s impact, and do you have any evidence that it is achieving its stated aims?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 25 June 2024
Mark Griffin
Okay.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 18 June 2024
Mark Griffin
The bill changes the way that charges and damages are calculated, with the intention that that will deter illegal evictions by bringing in the risk of having a much higher penalty. When I asked the previous panel this question, the witnesses gave brief answers. Do you agree with the proposal?