Minutes of Fifth Meeting
Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, Tuesday 26 February 2008
1) Welcome and Introductions
1. Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Communities and Sport welcomed everyone to the meeting. He then invited David Rogers, Deputy Director, Housing Markets and Supply, Scottish Government to chair the meeting. There followed a short round of introductions from everyone present.
In attendance:
Jonathan Fair Chief Executive, Homes for Scotland
Kennedy Foster Council of Mortgage Lenders, Scotland
Brian Gegan Chair, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Ronnie Jacobs Chair, Homes for Scotland
James Jopling Shelter Scotland
Cllr Harry McGuigan CoSLA
Lindsay McGregor CoSLA, Observer
David Rogers Deputy Director,
Housing Markets & Supply, Scottish Government
HSTF Secretariat:
Derek Bearhop Housing Markets and Supply, Scottish Government
Stephen Garland Directorate for Built Environment, Scottish Government
Nicola Hay Directorate for Built Environment, Scottish Government
Ian Fairweather Housing Markets and Supply, Scottish Government
Apologies:
Cllr Alison Hay CoSLA
Jim Mackinnon Chief Planner, Scottish Government
Archie Stoddart Director, Shelter Scotland
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2) Minutes of the Meeting of 15 January 2008 and Matters Arising
2. The minutes were agreed and would be placed on the Housing Supply Task Force web pages. A short update on the progress of the Building Capacity subgroup was provided. The first meeting had taken place on 18 February and the minutes had been circulated to members of the Task Force. It had proved to be a useful discussion involving Construction Skills, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Building Federation. One of the key actions arising was that Construction Skills had agreed to revise the Labour Market Intelligence Report 2007 to reflect the Government's proposed goal of building at least 35,000 new houses by the middle of the next decade.
3. An outstanding matter from the previous meeting of the Task Force related to information held by the Directors of Planning on capacity. It was reported that a meeting had taken place between CoSLA and the SSDP on 22 February and that CoSLA would provide an update shortly. Action: Cllr Harry McGuigan agreed to follow this up.
4. It was confirmed that the last of the Task Force area seminars had been arranged for Monday 17 March in Dumfries. Thanks were recorded to Task Force members who have assisted with the conduct and organisation of these seminars which had been well received by stakeholders.
5. The attention of members was drawn to the recent publication of the OECD Review of Rural Policy in Scotland which had some pertinent findings in relation to housing supply in rural areas.
Action - Secretariat to e-mail link to OECD report to Task Force members.
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3) Report of Glasgow & Clyde Valley Seminar
6. Brian Gegan spoke to the report of the seminar which would be placed on the Task Force's web pages. The seminar had adopted a similar format to the equivalent event run in the Lothians and there were consistent themes running through each of the seminars. One such theme was the delay in converting available land identified in the development plan into actual completions. One contrast between the Lothian and Glasgow seminars, however, was that a shortage of land supply was not such an issue generally in Glasgow & Clyde Valley, although in some local authority areas in the region it has a major affect on housing supply. The nature of the land supply and the cost of remediation of contaminated land was raised as a major issue in the seminar, particularly in the "city area". It was noted that most if not all of what were deemed as the easier sites have already been remediated leaving the more difficult ones.
Action - Secretariat to update the report on the Glasgow seminar and place this on the web as had been indicated to attendees at the seminar.
7. It was noted that the discussion at the Glasgow seminar had not identified a clear set of blocked developments to draw to the attention of the Task Force. This may have been due to the small number of developers who accepted invitations to attend. A number of developments experiencing delivery difficulties were discussed, although it was noted that the Glasgow area did not have the same scale of developments in this category as had been identified in the Lothians. It was agreed that Homes for Scotland and the SFHA would invite contributions from their members and share these with the rest of the Task Force before decisions are taken on whether there is merit in pursuing this approach in relation to the Glasgow area study.
Actions
Homes for Scotland and SFHA to canvass their members to identify projects in the Glasgow area that are facing obstacles and report back to Secretariat by end of next week.
Secretariat - Following receipt of information, to liaise with CoSLA to seek the views of the relevant local authorities in relation to the developments identified.
8. The meeting considered how the Task Force should pursue its interest in specific developments and how it could be most effective in promoting the resolution of difficulties hampering delivery of individual projects. The view was expressed that the Task Force's effectiveness lay in its ability to identify blockages to increased supply, to establish who or what may have the responsibility or powers to unblock these blockages and also, crucially, to propose an appropriate means to bring influence to bear to overcome these blockages and provide learning for the future. It was recognised that many decisions had to be taken at the local level where many of the main "drivers" of housing supply lie, but in circumstances where there is no organisation in overall control of a development it was argued that there was a role for constructive intervention by the Task Force. Such intervention could bring the constituent agencies together and work with them to find appropriate ways forward, as well as deriving more general messages with wider application.
9. It was seen as important that the proposed public statement should convey that the Task Force was committed to looking at the circumstances of specific delivery blockages and that it would look to apply appropriate influence in seeking to address these blockages. Members were particularly keen to avoid any accusation that they were concentrating on over-analysis of issues rather than on successful outcomes.
It was recognised, however, that some issues could be outwith the ability of the Task Force to influence. In all matters the Task Force would continue to act in accordance with its remit.
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4) Next Steps and Progress Report
10. The Secretariat confirmed that it was still the intention that the Task Force should issue a public statement upon completion of the final area seminar in Dumfries. This pointed to a statement in late March or early April that would set out the work the Task Force had undertaken to date and set out what its future work programme.
The public statement had 4 purposes: -
- To improve the visibility of the Task Force;
- To communicate the work of the Task Force to a wider audience;
- To draw a line under the "information gathering" stage of the Task Force's work programme; and
- To provide feedback for those people who attended the 4 seminars.
11. A discussion ensued about the content of the statement. It was agreed that the Task Force needed to be in possession of all the evidence before it would be in a position to reach a view on possible ways forward. It would not be able to propose solutions or make recommendations in advance of a full discussion around that evidence base. It was recognised, however, that the emphasis needed to move away from information gathering and towards analysis of the issues if the Task Force is to deliver on its remit. In this respect it needed to reassure itself that the work to date had succeeded in identifying the key issues. The process around the preparation of the public statement would serve that purpose. It was also agreed that the statement would not be a consultation exercise, although the Task Force continued to welcome relevant contributions and comments on its work at any stage.
12. Consideration was given to whether the public statement should identify the specific developments which the Task Force intended to examine in more detail to better understand the issues in relation to each. It was agreed that these should be included but that this should be done in a way that makes clear that the Task Force interest in each is intended to draw out lessons and find possible ways forward rather than to direct anyone towards particular solutions.
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13. It was observed that the four Task Force seminars would leave some parts of the country uncovered. Necessarily, the Task Force had to be selective in its ability to look at specific areas in this first phase of its work but it recognised that problems in relation to housing supply existed in many other areas too. Members wished to ensure that an opportunity was afforded to all areas to contribute to the information that was being collected and it was agreed that the Secretariat would write to a range of relevant organisations to commission their views.
Action - Secretariat to seek comments from relevant organisations in areas not covered by Task Force seminars on the key issues hampering housing supply. This to be done before the release of the public statement.
14. In that respect it was agreed that the public statement, which would be drafted by the Secretariat should contain: -
- Lessons learned so far;
- Set out the main issues which have been identified that impact on housing supply;
- List the specific developments that have been proposed for closer examination; and
- Set out the main themes that the Task Force will take forward during the next phase of its work.
Action - Secretariat to prepare a draft public statement for circulation to members after the Dumfries seminar.
5) Any Other Business
15. It was noted that Professor David Adams from the University of Glasgow's Department of Urban Studies had recently been appointed to the Department of Communities & Local Government's new expert panel. A report will shortly be published by the panel on research undertaken on the delay between available land being identified and completions. This may be relevant to the Task Force's work.
6) Date of Next Meeting
16. The next meeting will take place on Monday 28 April between 10.00am and 12.30pm in Conference Room 2, Victoria Quay.
HSTF Secretariat
March 2008
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