Meeting of the Parliament 27 September 2022
I thank and congratulate Kenneth Gibson for bringing this debate to Parliament. This is a great idea, and I hope that members will take it on board with their councils, as Mr Gibson has asked us to do.
The scheme focuses on the important single issue of adopting a road to promote and encourage civic pride in how our communities look, but it also comes at a good time, as the Government puts the finishing touches to its national planning framework. We hope that the NPF will contain some detail on how we better deal with the wider problem of dereliction in our cities, towns and villages: the derelict empty buildings—mostly empty shops—and the derelict and long abandoned parcels of land. I am sure that all of us will recognise the problem in our own communities, and it extends beyond the litter issue. Kenneth Gibson’s proposal therefore fits neatly, in my view, with the ideas coming down the line via NPF4 as we consider what our communities could look like in the future.
This stretches back many years now, but one of the most frustrating things that I have had to put up with in my term of office is our ability—or lack of it—to take effective action against owners so that they make an effort to clean up what they own in our town centres. Empty shops are often left to deteriorate; the signs fall off; graffiti and posters get stuck to the windows; and weeds abound. A little bit of effort might have prevented that sort of thing from happening.
I also know of many vacant parcels of land, especially in the urban setting, that are simply abandoned and left to rot. Inevitably we turn to the council to step in and try to help, but I think that it is unfair to expect the public purse to continually bail out the private sector. After all, it has the responsibility of maintaining its own properties and land. The amenity powers under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 simply do not do the job, because the burden can still fall on the public purse even if cases are successfully pursued.
One of the biggest issues is that we do not know who the owners actually are. They can be local people, but often they can be fund management companies that, frankly, do not give a jot whether our towns and villages look nice. I think that it is time that they did.
Something needs to change. Perhaps we need stronger legislation, but the initiative that we are talking about might be the beginning of a new process that can turn these problems around voluntarily. We can start with the adopt-a-road idea, but what about going a little bit further if it is a success? What about adopting a street, an unused piece of land, a roundabout and even the “Welcome” signage for our towns? The list could grow, and we could engage the business sector to sponsor these sites in return for advertising space in the areas that are being adopted.
Over the summer, I travelled around Ireland and Scotland from Dingle in county Kerry to Dingwall in Ross-shire, and I was struck by the cleanliness of many of the features in the towns and villages through which I passed. Clearly local pride was to the fore, with businesses often working in partnership as key sponsors. Streets were clean and litter free; the signage coming into the towns was attractive; and even the roundabouts as we entered were landscaped and had some public artwork installed. It was all very impressive.
I recently put some of these ideas to my own council, East Ayrshire, and I think that it is fair to say that I have a job of work on my hands to persuade it to embrace some of this approach, particularly the elements involving the local road network. However, I will keep at it until it sees the light.
This initiative that Kenneth Gibson has brought to our attention is a great opportunity for our communities to play a direct part in making their areas look as good as possible. Local businesses must play their part, too, and I hope that the idea will take root and that we will see continual year-on-year improvements that will make us all proud of the cities, towns and villages that we call home.
17:45