BEFS Bulletin – Built Environment Parliamentary Questions

BEFS News

Our Parliamentary section this week features Parliamentary questions from Andy Wightman MSP, Rhoda Grant MSP, Graham Simpson MSP, Michelle Ballantyne MSP and Liam McArthur MSP and their respective answers, relating to stone-built and traditional buildings, heritage, energy efficiency, house building and vacant land.

Andy Wightman MSP, Housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, launched his Homes First campaign this week to control the rapid and unregulated growth of short-term lets, where owners of residential properties offer them as holiday accommodation. The subject was also debated in the Scottish Parliament as a members’ business debate (motion S5M-08370) on 8th November.

As part of their 50th anniversary celebrations, the Scottish Civic Trust’s Annual Conference, on Monday 27 November in Glasgow, tackles the theme of “Fifty years of conservation areas”. Book your place now!

Also, it is not too late to sign up for Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference, in celebration of the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, held in Glasgow tomorrow and on Saturday. The Conference offers the opportunity for heritage volunteers and professionals to network, showcase their achievements, share experiences and create future working partnerships.

Living Streets Scotland and Carplus Scotland are researching how new housing developments can be designed to make it easier to walk, cycle or use public transport. They are seeking views of built environment practitioners, and would really appreciate your help with the research by completing a short, anonymous survey (3 snapshot questions).

Consultations

Brexit and Local Government inquiry (BP)
The Communities and Local Government Committee’s Brexit and Local Government inquiry looks at which powers currently held by the EU could be transferred to town halls after the UK’s exit.
The closing date for submissions is Tuesday 14 November.

Guidance for Local Authorities when carrying out their new duties and functions under Part 9 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
Closes 17 Nov 2017.

Call for evidence on the reform of the Green Deal Framework (DBEIS)
This call for evidence is to improve our knowledge of stakeholders’ views on the Green Deal Framework, and whether there is scope for changing the framework so that it can better support current and future needs.
This consultation closes on 23 November 2017.

Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Premises with Sleeping Accommodation (SG)
This consultation is to seek comment on a revised volume of practical fire safety guidance.
Opened 7 Nov 2017 and closes 5 Feb 2018.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on proposals to revise the Code of Conduct for registered property factors and other related amendments to the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011. A number of events are being held to discuss and debate the proposals and questions raised in the consultation: 24 November 2017 in Edinburgh, 28 November 2017 in Glasgow, 29 November 2017 in Aberdeen, and 11 December 2017 in Dundee.

Publications

The Culture, Tourism, Europe & External Relations Committee’s SPICe Brexit update (SP 01/11/17) 

Scottish Council Housing Income and Expenditure 2016-17 (SG 31/10/17)

Age, Home and Community – The First Five Years (SG 30/10/17)
This is a mid point review of Age, Home and Community: A Strategy for Housing for Scotland’s Older People: 2012 -2021.

Building Regulation and Fire Safety in Scotland (SP 30/10/17)
The Local Government & Communities Committee has published its report. It concluded there needed to be more homebuyer support in the event of building defects and poor build quality, including for a Clerk of Works to become a “familiar face” on building sites.

The Culture, Tourism, Europe & External Relations Committee’s SPICe Brexit update (SP 26/10/17)

Scottish Government News Releases

Help to build own home (SG 08/11/17)
A new £4 million self-build loan fund offering financial backing to people who want to build their own homes will be available from next year. Housing Minister Kevin Stewart confirmed the fund was being set up following a successful pilot in the Highlands.

£15 million for affordable housing (SG 06/11/17)
Innovative funding scheme contributes to 50,000 affordable homes target. More than £15 million for affordable housing projects has been raised through an innovative funding scheme, supporting the development of over 200 homes for social rent across the country.

Local community land transfer in Skye (SG 03/11/17)
Forestry land at Fairy Pools to be owned by community group. An organisation in Skye are to become the first to acquire land under a new scheme to transfer publicly-owned forestry assets, to the benefit of local communities.

£1 million for Rothesay Pavilion (SG 31/10/17)
Restoration boost for celebrated site. More than £1 million of European funding for the restoration of Rothesay Pavilion will help create new jobs, Economy Secretary Keith Brown has said.

Supporting local communities (SG 27/10/17)
Community and third sector projects have been allocated a share of £29 million, to find new ways to tackle poverty and improve people’s lives. The funding, which includes £12.5 million from the European Social Fund, supports the Fairer Scotland Action Plan, published last year. It will benefit around 170 community and third sector groups who will use the investment to deliver projects tackling inequality and supporting inclusion.

Affordable housing for older people (SG 25/10/17)
Shared equity schemes increase access to housing and home ownership. Older people will have greater access to affordable homes with the introduction of greater flexibility to shared equity schemes, Housing Minister Kevin Stewart has announced.

News Releases

Green community ambitions – £400,000 to boost the environment (CSGN 08/11/17)
Communities across the central belt can bring environmental and health benefits to their areas by bidding for a share of a £400,000 fund. The 2018-19 round of the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) funding will offer investment to projects promoting active travel, woodland planting, community growing and restoring land. Since 2010 £6.3 million has been invested in more than 180 projects.

Heritage Groups Warn Government over Flawed Approach to Retrofitted Older Homes (CLA 08/11/17)
Several leading heritage organisations have formed an alliance to raise concerns with the Government over the way ‘flawed’ energy efficiency policy treats traditional buildings. The CLA, the organisation representing rural landlords, has joined together with others including the Church of England and the National Trust to write to the Government to explain that the one-size-fits-all approach to energy efficiency fails to recognise the unique nature of heritage properties.

Homelessness on the rise across the UK (Guardian 08/11/17)
A new analysis from Shelter and Shelter Scotland has revealed that the number of people recorded as homeless in the UK has risen to 307,000. The research covered data on rough-sleeping, social services and temporary accommodation, but the charities have warned that the true figure may be even higher because government records are not definitive. In Scotland, there were 28,297 households assessed as homeless, with 10,873 in temporary accommodation and an estimated 5,000 people sleeping rough.

Group on Skye first to acquire land under community scheme (SHN 07/11/17)
An organisation in Skye is to become the first to acquire land under a new scheme to transfer publicly-owned forestry assets, to the benefit of local communities. Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) launched the Community Asset Transfer Scheme earlier this year. Minginish Community Hall Association (MCHA) applied to purchase land close to the Fairy Pools, an increasingly popular tourist site.

Is heritage good for your health? Share your views! (THA 03/11/17)
Listen to the audio and view the slides of The Heritage Alliance’s 2017 heritage debate ‘Is heritage good for your health’ here. The debate raised some good points and highlighted useful case studies from our panellists. Now we want to hear your experiences with health and heritage. Please fill out this short survey monkey questionnaire and share some case studies with us for a short briefing looking at the links between heritage and health.

Heritage 2020: #HeritageChat on 16 November (THA 03/11/17)
The first #HeritageChat will run on 16 November 2017, 13.00-14.00 (UK time).
#HeritageChat is a new monthly TwitterChat being coordinated by Heritage 2020 on behalf of the historic environment sector. The first session is being led by the Historic Houses Association, tweeting as @HeritageChat, and will explore innovation and entrepreneurship in heritage (tying into Global Entrepreneurship Week which runs 13-19 November #GEW2017).

Social Bite launches report on ‘Housing First’ strategy (SHN 01/11/17)
Social Bite has published a new study focussed on eradicating homelessness in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. The report by researchers at Heriot-Watt University gives a detailed breakdown of homelessness statistics in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee and a clear roadmap of how to collaborate to end homelessness in Scotland.

Healthier Places (A&DS 11/17)
Architecture and Design Scotland (A&DS) is working with the Scottish Government Health & Social Care Directorate (SGHSCD) and Health Facilities Scotland (HFS) to support Health Boards create truly healing places. Quality underpins the future vision for healthcare in Scotland; the quality of support and services provided by the NHS, Local Authorities and the Third Sector, and the quality of environment needed to support each community in this.

Thirty-minute commute ‘saves up to £86,000 on house prices’ (BBC 30/10/17)
Living 30 minutes outside of Scotland’s largest cities could save commuters up to £86,000 in house prices, according to the Bank of Scotland (BoS). Properties half an hour outside of Edinburgh were £86,371 cheaper on average while equivalent homes outside of Glasgow were £22,000 cheaper.

Opinion & Comment

SFHA chief executive Sally Thomas looks ahead in housing (Holyrood 07/11/17)
New SFHA chief executive Sally Thomas is bringing some fresh ideas but she’s also keen to listen.

Making the best use of our assets – Scottish Empty Homes conference 2017 (LGiU 03/11/17)
Shaheena Din, National Project Manager for the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, previews the Scottish Empty Homes Conference taking place on Wednesday 15th November.

Why place? (Claire Bynner, LGiU)
Prevention, performance, participation, partnership; the four pillars of the Christie Commission are now well-known. But what about ‘place’? Here What Works Scotland Research Associate Claire Bynner examines the role of place-based approaches, what ‘place’ offers to public service development and delivery, and also what it doesn’t.

Designing across the generations for age-friendly places (A&DS)
Going outdoors is essential for maintaining health and wellbeing into later life, but many older people find it becomes less easy, enjoyable and meaningful as they age, writes Iain Scott, Co-investigator of Mobility, Mood and Place (MMP).

Parliamentary Questions

Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Scottish Government in order to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament.Questions in which a member has indicated a declarable interest are marked with an “R”.

Kate Forbes S5O-01425
To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting remote and rural communities with community land buyouts. (SP 08/11/17)

Parliamentary Questions & Answers

Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Government in order to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament.

Question S5W-11720: Andy Wightman, Lothian, Scottish Green Party, Date Lodged: 03/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to consult on vacant land, as announced by the First Minister on 2 March 2016.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017)

Question S5W-11860: Rhoda Grant, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will put in place to ensure that buildings are wind and watertight before it introduces measures to address energy efficiency, such as a Warm Homes Bill and the Scottish Energy Efficiency Programme.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017)

Question S5W-11855: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the Energy Performance Certificate to be appropriate for stone-built properties, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017)

Question S5W-11854: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government how it can ensure that there will be a supply chain of professional accredited assessors for traditional buildings; how it will assess their accreditation standards, what steps it is taking to ensure that training and qualifications are developed to establish a qualified workforce to support the installation of energy efficiency measures.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017)

Question S5W-11853: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that lessons learned from failing energy retrofit remedies to traditional buildings are made available to homeowners and assessors.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017)

Question S5W-11852: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will put measures or exemptions in place in energy efficiency legislation to ensure that (a) important heritage, (b) listed and (c) pre-1919 buildings are protected from inappropriate adaptations.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017)

Question S5W-12065: Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Date Lodged: 17/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made to make buildings more energy efficient since it was announced that this would be designated as a national infrastructure priority.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (06/11/2017)

Question S5W-12179: Michelle Ballantyne, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 24/10/2017
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the cost of building houses in rural areas compared with urban areas.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (06/11/2017)

Debates

Members’ Business for debate (SP 08/11/17)

Andy Wightman: Homes First—That the Parliament notes what it understands as the anxiety being expressed by communities over the rapid growth in entire homes being let for short-term occupancy across urban and rural Scotland and the view that this should not be at the expense of people in housing need nor compromise the peaceful enjoyment of people’s homes; believes that this issue is long-standing in parts of the Highlands and the south-west and that this form of letting is now increasingly displacing residential communities in Edinburgh and across Lothian; notes reports of distress being felt by residents, particularly in communal property in the centre of the capital; acknowledges the recently-launched Homes First campaign, and notes the calls for all parties to urgently bring forward planning, fiscal or regulatory measures to enable local government to provide effective controls over the change of use of residential property to short-term let property.

Read the full debate.

Events

For the latest information about BEFS Members’ events see our events calendar.

Looking Up & Looking Out for Tenements
When: Saturday 11th November 2017, 2pm-4.30pm, .
Where: 996 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow, G41 2HA.
In the run up to National Maintenance Week Glasgow City Heritage Trust in collaboration with Under One Roof invite you to become a tenement detective for the day as we send you on an investigative walk around some of Glasgow’s traditional buildings in search of common issues and potential repairs. The ‘Looking Up & Looking Out’ tour will explore the common spaces of Camphill Gate, as well as gaining access to the communal roof space, where we will get amongst the chimney pots and experience a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area.

Looking Up & Looking Out for Tenements
When: Sunday 12th November 2017 | 2pm-4.30pm.
Where: Garnethill Multicultural Centre, Glasgow.
In the run up to National Maintenance Week Glasgow City Heritage Trust in collaboration with Under One Roof invite you to become a tenement detective for the day as we send you on an investigative walk around some of Glasgow’s traditional buildings in search of common issues and potential repairs. Garnethill is a predominately residential area located in the city centre of Glasgow. The ‘Looking Up & Looking Out’ tour will explore the late Georgian and Early Victorian tenements from the streets which surround the Garnethill Multicultural Centre.

From Banditry to Books, from Reiving to Screeving: The Borders Enlightenment
When: November 13 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm.
Where: National Museum Scotland Auditorium, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF.
Lecture given by Professor Ted Cowan Hon FSA Scot, Emeritus Professor of Scottish History and Literature, University of Glasgow. This lecture seeks to explore and assess enlightenment influence upon the inhabitants of the Scottish Borders. It also asks whether it is possible that folk with surnames such as Hume and Scott, up to their necks in all kinds of violence, feuding, skullduggery and general mayhem, through to 1603 could, two or three generations later, transform or be transformed, into some of the most distinguished of recipients and exponents of enlightenment.

From Banditry to Books, from Reiving to Screeving: The Borders Enlightenment
When: November 15 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Where: Dumfries Museum, Dumfries.
Lecture given by Professor Ted Cowan Hon FSA Scot, Emeritus Professor of Scottish History and Literature, University of Glasgow.
Please contact Dumfries Museum on 01387 253374 to reserve a free place at the lecture or via email.

Scottish Land Commission Strategy Debate
When: Monday 11 December 2017, from 17:00 – 19:00.
Where: James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH.
Please join us for a presentation by Andrew Thin, Chairman, Scottish Land Commission, followed by a Q&A/debate about the work of the Commission and its potential impact on both urban and rural Scotland. This event, being run jointly by the James Hutton Institute and RSA – via its MCICH Network – is open to Fellows of the RSA, staff and board members of the James Hutton Institute and to all those interested in the Commission’s work from private, public and third sector perspectives.

Vacancies

Senior Planner (Scottish Government)
We are currently seeking applications for a Senior Planner within Planning and Architecture Division based in Edinburgh. This is a permanent and pensionable appointment and new entrants will normally start on the minimum of the pay range. Senior Planners take ownership of key planning issues and develop national policy, advice and solutions in response to issues that arise. This role requires positive collaborative working with a wide range of internal government departments, including transport, energy, economic development, environment and housing. Extensive external engagement with all the key agencies, Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) , planning authorities, the private sector, community and representative bodies and other interest groups is essential.
Closing date: 4 Dec 2017.

Head of Strategic Development (CSGNT)
Working directly with our Chief Executive, this vacancy provides an exciting opportunity to influence the strategic direction and policy development of the Central Scotland Green Network, the largest environmental project of its kind in Europe. In addition, you will have responsibility for our Development Team, you will line manage CSGNT’s specialist communications, heritage, brownfield land, monitoring and evaluation, GIS and IT staff. With considerable freedom to operate, this post will appeal to creative, problem-solving individuals, who are self-starters and able to plan and manage their workload through to completion.
The closing date for applications is 20 November 2017.

London Based Team Coordinator And Administrator (AHF)
We are currently seeking to appoint a full-time Team Coordinator and Administrator to help ensure the smooth running of the organisation, to help it communicate the impact of its work and to provide support to the AHF’s Investment, Finance and Operations teams and the Chief Executive.
Closing Date: 9am on 20th November, 2017

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