Chamber and committees

Bryan, I know that your organisation does not have compulsory purchase powers, but do you have any views on those two issues?

Given that you are encouraging more mixed use, is there a need for a general town centre use classification that would cover some of these classes, so people would not need to apply for planning permission to change their use?

Building standards are designed to promote sustainable development and protect the public, but are there any aspects of the building standards system that need to be changed to encourage redevelopment of our town centres?

Bill Lindsay, is there anything we need to change in building standards?

How would you build that into the system?

There has been a suggestion that there is a need for compulsory sale orders. Where land or property has been lying vacant for a number of years, there is an opportunity for an organisation such as yours or the local authority to force the owner to put it up for auction, at which it would be sold to the highest bidder.

I have a question about change of use and the classification system—class 1 shops, class 7 hotels and so on. On our visit to Dumfries, we were shown a number of examples in the high street. One was a former menswear shop that had closed. Someone wanted to convert it into a restaurant, but the local development plan designates all of the main street as class 1. We also saw a couple of units that have lain empty for 20-plus years, if the information that we were given is correct.

In the rapidly changing situation where we have had the pandemic, we want to bring in 20-minute neighbourhoods and we have e-commerce, is the classification system flexible enough to accommodate changes of use? Are any changes required in the system? As I mentioned Dumfries, I had better put those questions to Steve Rogers first.

Bill Lindsay, is there anything that you would like to see changed in the classification system?

Craig Iles, if it is the case that these use class orders were written for a different age 20 years ago, what changes would you like to see?

I have two quick questions, and I will put them to Derek Shaw first. There are 11,000 hectares of vacant and derelict land in Scotland and more than 79,000 empty properties. You have explained your views on compulsory purchase orders, but is there a need for compulsory sale orders to be introduced?

My second question is on VAT arrangements for residential conversions. We want to bring our town centres back to life, and we want people to live in our town centres. Much of the vacant space is above shops, and VAT on residential conversions and adaptions is at 20 per cent whereas, with demolition and new build, it is at zero per cent. Is there a need for the UK Government to address the VAT problem?