Scottish Government

Housing Supply Task Force

11.30am, 27 November 2007

1) Welcome and Introductions

Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Communities and Sport, in the Chair, welcomed members of the Housing Supply Task Force to the meeting.

In attendance:

Kennedy Foster Council of Mortgage Lenders, Scotland

Brian Gegan Chair, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations

Ronnie Jacobs Chair, Homes for Scotland

Jonathan Fair Chief Executive, Homes for Scotland

Archie Stoddart Director, Shelter, Scotland

Cllr Harry McGuigan CoSLA Spokesperson for Environment and Regeneration

(Housing Portfolio)

David Rogers Deputy Director, Housing Markets and Supply, Scottish Government

Jim Mackinnon Director and Chief Planner, Scottish Government

Wendy Bullard Director of Investment, Communities Scotland

David Brew Head of Rural Communities, Scottish Government

Elaine Hamilton Rural Communities, Scottish Government

Susan Torrance Highland Housing Alliance

Prof Mark Shucksmith Newcastle University

Task Force Secretariat

Derek Bearhop Housing Markets and Supply, Scottish Government

Stephen Garland Planning Directorate, Scottish Government

Nicola Hay Planning Directorate, Scottish Government

Apologies : Cllr Alison Hay, CoSLA Spokesperson for Environment and Regeneration (Planning Portfolio)

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2) Minutes of the Meeting of 23 October.

1. These were agreed with no matters arising. The approved minutes would be added to the Housing Supply Task Force website, along with copies of the presentations made to the Task Force meeting.

3) Lothians Seminar - 20 November : Paper HSTF 3 - 1

2. Brian Gegan, as chair of the HSTF Lothians seminar, spoke to his paper summarising the event. The first of the Task Force seminars had been well attended with a range of interesting points emerging if not a raft of obvious solutions. The seminar had reflected well on the Task Force and it was felt had enabled it to gain credibility. The key issues identified related to land supply, the need for investment in the planning system, funding for infrastructure, and affordable housing provision. The plenary session highlighted two key recommendations: the need for the Task Force to understand the blockages affecting the 7 or 8 main housing developments in the Lothians in more detail and the need to consider whether there might be benefit in adopting a project management approach to assist the delivery process. In discussion:

• It was considered the success of the event demonstrated the benefit of engagement with a range of contributors. Replicating that success and reporting back to those involved would be important considerations for future events.
• The Task Force should focus on real obstacles to the delivery of housing. Many blockages are inevitable, others are unnecessary. Obstacles which emerge should be prioritised in order to identify those that the Task Force should focus on.
• It was noted that the seminar had raised similar matters to those at the stakeholder group meetings looking at the review of Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 3.
• There had been strong feedback on issues which might have short term solutions. In some areas it appears that even where planning permission is secured, coordination and delivery of key infrastructure and other issues is difficult. In many cases no-one has overall responsibility for securing all aspects of delivery of housing developments through to completion. Members recognised that there are current arrangements in place which should but do not work - the reasons behind this should be explored. The primary focus should be to consider how the roles of project management, mediation and advice might best be developed to meet local circumstances in accelerating delivery of major housing projects.
• There are issues of attraction and retention of staff in planning authorities.
• It has become clear that it is not only the planning system that is blocking delivery - land ownership can hinder development.
• It was felt that a more detailed consideration is needed of the issues in a sample of the 7 or 8 major housing projects that make up a large proportion of planned new housing in the Lothians. This would allow the Task Force to develop a better understanding of the processes, structures and timescale in relation to each. While some reservations were expressed about applying centralist solutions to individual developments, it was noted that those attending the seminar had universally welcomed Task Force involvement as (potentially) a helpful intervention. It was agreed that there was merit in deeper scrutiny by the Task Force of these developments at a later date, possibly as a precursor to pump priming change.
• The Task Force considered that there would be benefit in reflecting on the outcomes of the seminar before deciding on priorities and that this reflection should also include outputs from the forthcoming rural seminar.

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4) Update on Thematic Studies : Papers HSTF 3 - 2 and HSTF 3 - 3

3. Papers were circulated outlining proposals for the following studies : community engagement (rapporteur - Archie Stoddart); public sector land (rapporteur - Harry McGuigan) and capacity of the housebuilding industry (rapporteur - Jonathan Fair).

4. These studies were considered very briefly. It was noted that the papers were assisting the Task Force's understanding of the issues to be considered. Members were invited to submit any views or comments on the papers directly to the rapporteurs but to copy these to the other Task Force members. To maintain momentum with the thematic studies, it was felt that they required to be given fuller consideration at the January meeting. It was recognised that there may be a number of other possible thematic studies yet to be considered, and therefore there may be a requirement to prioritise this work. The ability of Task Force members to contribute to these studies, and the resources available to the Secretariat to support individual studies, needed to be considered.

5) Future Work Programme - Taking Stock

5. The meeting noted the diverse nature and volume of the information coming forward as a result of Task Force activity and considered how to proceed. To make best use of the two hour formal meetings, it was suggested that Task Force members might wish to hold informal planning meetings which would enable them to develop their thinking and to present purposeful recommendations to future meetings of the full group. Accordingly, it was suggested that an informal planning meeting should be convened to take place in mid-December at which progress could be made on how to prioritise actions within the forward work programme. A planning meeting along these lines would enable the January meeting of the Task Force to take stock of the full range of its activities within the time available.

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6) Housing Supply in Rural Scotland

6. An introductory presentation was provided by Susan Torrance of Highland Housing Alliance who made the following main observations:

Issues facing housing in rural Scotland might be summarised as :

• Lack of people in rural areas of the age and with the skills to create economic prosperity
• Lack of houses to attract those people
• Land supply - lack of proper investigation of deliverability of sites included in plans, lack of engagement with private sector, housing is often an afterthought used to pay for other development
• Lack of community desire for development often leads to challenges over sites
• Lack of recognition that the 'community' includes those who have no voice or no house already. Incoming population can often be behind campaigns against new development
• Conflict between environmental protection/preservation of 'scenery' and needs of people
• Planning and building control departments are under-resourced
• Section 75 / PAN 74 quota policies have had a big impact in delivering affordable housing
• Appropriate design should include consideration of quality and cost effectiveness, not just stone and slate replicas of the past
• SEPA and Scottish Water have made real strides to work with communities, developers and local authorities to identify new solutions

7. Some ideas for change were proposed:

· A land feasibility, assembly and planning agency tasked with getting real volume into rural areas while preserving the identity and integrity of existing communities

· Viewing rural development as a joined up activity. For instance, the reform of the enterprise network and Communities Scotland might provide an opportunity to combine all aspects of economic and community development. Furthermore, other areas such as Borders and Dumfries and Galloway face similar problems to the HIE area.

· To overcome the tension that exists between community needs and development, new ways of working need to be developed to provide housing as existing structures are not working.

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8. Professor Mark Shucksmith gave a presentation to the meeting setting out his views on the challenges faced in responding to rural housing supply pressures. The main points were:

Main obstacles :

• Lack of speculative private building in rural areas
• Public investment has been focussed on areas of decline rather than those with development pressure
• The Planning system's culture of containment focuses development in urban settlements rather than in the countryside where people want to live.
• Access to land - issues of ownership
• Infrastructure constraints
• Lack of understanding of the rural context

What might be done?

• In accessible rural areas - more use of Section 75 agreements to cross-fund affordable housing
• In more scattered rural communities - promote Rural Home Ownership Grants through local enablers, encourage RSLs to pioneer new shared equity models on scattered sites rather than in estates, promote the constellation model of community-owned housing as piloted in the Western Isles
• Direct more public funding to rural areas where growth and need is increasing
• Replace the Right To Buy and use the rural burden model as a means of retaining affordability
• Promote culture change among planners and reporters
• Sustainability should focus on place shaping not containment
• The concept of "sustainable ruralism" should be introduced
• Allocate land for affordable housing and use CPO powers
• Fund rural housing enablers
• Make more use of public land assembly to provide land at below market value
• A radical option might be site value taxation - identify the use and tax the owner as if that development had already taken place

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9. The following points were raised in the subsequent discussion around these presentations:

• It was recognised that there was a 'silent majority' in most rural areas with whom it was important to engage about prospective development.
• The appropriateness of planning policy in rural areas was considered, specifically the usefulness of development boundaries/village envelopes in planning for housing in rural areas was questioned.
• Culture change relates to all - planners, developers and politicians. The new concordat between the Scottish Government and local government emphasises local decision making. Linked to this is a better appreciation that planning in rural Scotland should allow for sustainable growth to allow communities to remain viable rather than focus primarily on protecting the countryside.
• While a reported 98% of planning applications in rural areas are approved, it was acknowledged that many potential applications were deterred by the prospect of failure.
• Are there requirements/opportunities for short term solutions in rural Scotland as have emerged from Task Force consideration of the Lothians? Potential short term issued suggested included making public sector land available and suspension of RTB.

• Use of a development forum approach such as that adopted by Highland Council - enabling all to have a shared understanding of delivery, a consistent application of policy and clear communication. Also in Highland, the Highland Housing Alliance approach - acquisition of land, delivery of serviced sites to the market, model of development economics - potentially merited further investigation for wider use and adaptation.
• It was noted that in the Highlands innovation is achieving short term solutions. In the longer term changes are required to join up delivery of rural development taking account of social, economic and environmental aspects.
• Developer contributions should be able to be sought and used effectively in rural Scotland to provide infrastructure and enable development. Small authorities might consider sharing expertise in Section 75 negotiations. .The proposed review of planning agreement systems provides an opportunity to create a system that can be used effectively throughout Scotland. The provision of appropriate infrastructure is as crucial an issue for rural Scotland as it is in urban areas.
• It was suggested that the use of rural exceptions policies and allocation of land for affordable housing, although provided for in policy, could be used more effectively and more often.
• Whilst innovation in the use of pre-fabricated housing can help deliver more housing, consideration also needs to be given to their future mortgageability.
• Issues of rural housing being available to local economically active people in order to help address concerns about the long term sustainability of rural communities. The impact of second homes, holiday homes and empty homes was also discussed in this context: - should rural housing be insulated from the wider market? It was suggested that changes could have major implications for the tourism industry in Scotland which is a significant contributor to the economy.

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7) Any Other Business

10. Consideration was given to HSTF (members and secretariat) involvement with the forthcoming event arranged jointly with the Parliamentary Rural Affairs & Environment Committee in Aviemore on 10 December. This would be an opportunity for the Task Force to present its work to a strong audience of representatives from rural housing interests. The event was seen as a valuable opportunity to shape the intended study of rural housing supply issues. The Secretariat undertook to coordinate members' involvement.

11. The meeting was asked to note the following papers which had been provided for information :

Paper HSTF 3 - 4 : Rural Housing Enablers (an information paper from Shelter circulated in advance)

Paper HSTF 3 - 5 : Housing Affordability in the Republic of Ireland (circulated at the meeting)

12. The attendance at the Local Government and Communities Committee meeting on 14 November by Jonathan Fair and Cllr McGuigan was noted and the Minister thanked them for their contributions.

13. The recent publication of the Callcutt Review of Housebuilding Delivery in England was highlighted as being of potential interest to Task Force members.

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8) Next Meeting

14. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 15 January 2008 between 10 am and 12.00 noon.

The meeting will have the following outline agenda:

• Consideration of progress to date and proposed way forward
• Detailed discussion of the three thematic studies for which papers have been prepared:

a) public sector land

b) capacity within the development industry

c) community engagement

Attachments:

Presentations to Housing Supply Task Force on rural housing issues.

• Professor Mark Shucksmith
• Susan Torrance, Highland Housing Alliance

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