Committee
Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee 03 February 2016
03 Feb 2016 · S4 · Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee
Item of business
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
I am very supportive of amendment 128. We have to introduce compulsory sale orders. There is a weakness in the present system. When we drive around urban and rural Scotland, we see quite a lot of land that, even if it is not completely vacant and derelict, could be used by communities and individuals for their benefit. Land is a resource that requires to be put to good use, and there are many circumstances in which that does not happen. I also think that having a register of land that makes it clear what the situation is will, of itself, bring a lot of attention to the issue. We will come to that later, in debating group 2. My only reservations relate to the parallel consultation that has been taking place and the fact that the issue is wider than simply being a land reform issue—it is of great importance for housing and communities. Without doubt, I would like to hear from the minister a commitment to take compulsory sale orders forward across Government and an indication of the timescale for doing that. This is, to use a well-worn phrase, an idea whose time has come, and it is time that the powers were available to communities in Scotland.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Rob Gibson)
SNP
I welcome everyone to the fourth meeting in 2016 of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee. First of all, I remind members and everyone ...
The Convener
SNP
The first group of amendments is on compulsory sale orders. Amendment 128, in the name of Sarah Boyack, is grouped with amendment 132.
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
When I raised this issue in the stage 1 debate on the bill, the minister agreed to pursue it in advance of stage 3. I wrote to her to exchange ideas on how w...
Jim Hume (South Scotland) (LD)
LD
I support amendment 128. We can all point to land that sits unused, especially in urban Scotland, where bodies such as housing associations could have been p...
Michael Russell (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
SNP
I am very supportive of amendment 128. We have to introduce compulsory sale orders. There is a weakness in the present system. When we drive around urban and...
Alex Fergusson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)
Con
I am supportive of the principle of the amendment. I can think of examples in my constituency of land that is owned by an arm of Government in the shape of t...
The Convener
SNP
Minister, a third leg to this stool is the independent planning review that is taking place, and I wonder whether it is taking forward issues around the purc...
The Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (Aileen McLeod)
SNP
I thank Sarah Boyack for explaining her amendment 128 and the related amendment 132. I very much welcome much of what she and other members have said about a...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
I thank committee colleagues and the minister for their comments about amendment 128. To borrow Mike Russell’s phrase, this is an idea whose time has come. I...
The Convener
SNP
There will now be a change of officials. Before section 66
The Convener
SNP
The next grouping is entitled “Non-domestic rates: vacant and derelict, and unoccupied industrial, lands and heritages”. Amendment 129, in the name of Patric...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
As a non-member of the committee, I did not ask to speak to the previous group of amendments, but I endorse many of the arguments that members made about the...
Michael Russell
SNP
I, too, am sympathetic to the idea of the register and the incentives. I think that there is something inherently attractive about having both a last resort ...
Alex Fergusson
Con
I can see where Patrick Harvie is coming from with his amendments, but I see great practical difficulties. I also see enormous potential for conflict and arg...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I thank Patrick Harvie for lodging, and for setting out the rationale behind, his group of amendments. I understand absolutely the principles behind them. T...
Patrick Harvie
Green
I am grateful to those who recognise the case in favour of what my amendments propose. We have not only to try to increase the incentives to bring derelict a...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
The current legislation on this is quite clear. That is the only point that I will make.
Patrick Harvie
Green
I am tempted to seek permission to withdraw amendment 129 on the understanding that I will have some discussion with the minister prior to the deadline for s...
The Convener
SNP
We come to the group on non-domestic rates in relation to shootings and deer forests. Amendment 94, in the name of Alex Fergusson, is grouped with amendments...
Alex Fergusson
Con
Amendments 94 and 95 seek quite simply to remove sections 66 and 67 from the bill, the result of which would be to continue the exclusion from the valuation ...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I thank Alex Fergusson for explaining his amendments 94 and 95, which would together remove the part 6 provision to return shootings and deer forests to the ...
Michael Russell
SNP
I was alarmed to receive an email on Friday from a local journalist in Argyll who said that she understood that Alex Fergusson and I were jointly moving amen...
Jim Hume
LD
I have been minded to support some of Alex Fergusson’s amendments. The minister mentioned that in 1995 there was no evidence that the revenue received covere...
Graeme Dey (Angus South) (SNP)
SNP
Alex Fergusson is right to say that, in our stage 1 report, the committee raised significant concerns over the issue of sporting rates relief, on the basis t...
Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
The committee’s stage 1 report concluded that, on the available evidence, the case had not been made, but I—along with my colleague, Graeme Dey—am reassured ...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
It is quite striking, thinking about the principle behind the policy position, that we would continue to exempt shooting estates when a lot of other rural bu...
The Convener
SNP
Minister, have you considered equal opportunities issues with regard to the seasonal workers who are employed for shootings and so on? Do we have any informa...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
That is a good point, convener. I do not have that level of detail to hand this morning, but I am happy to supply such information to the committee in writin...
Alex Fergusson
Con
I will not take up a great deal of the committee’s time; I merely ask for a point of clarification about the information that the committee asked the Governm...
The Convener
SNP
The question is, that amendment 94 be agreed to. Are we agreed? Members: No.