Meeting of the Parliament 31 October 2023
Less than one week on from the revelation that our former First Minister could spare just one slot in her diary for the whole of rural Scotland over the past two years, I start by saying that I am pleased to see rural affairs back on the agenda, firmly and squarely, here in Holyrood today. Scotland’s towns, villages, rural communities and islands will be paying attention and listening to what the Parliament can do to tackle the challenges that they face.
I know that there are few greater challenges for them than stemming the tide of rural depopulation, which poses a threat to the sustainability of so many of our communities. Rural depopulation has been driven by years of neglect and years of not using devolved powers in this place, not just by the former First Minister but by a Scottish National Party-Green coalition that has shown time and again that it does not understand the needs of rural communities.
The minister is right that housing is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to solving that issue. Setting out a plan to support the delivery of affordable homes and homes for key workers, and to address supply chain issues in building homes in rural areas, is a genuinely positive step. A one-size-fits-all approach does not always work and is not always progress but, too often, the Government has taken a copy-and-paste approach by using urban solutions to fix rural problems.
The rural and islands housing action plan is a welcome departure from that approach, but although it is a start—and is no doubt hard won, in the face of a Government that has shown little interest in rural communities or solving the issues around rural depopulation—the facts and figures that underpin the plan show that the Government remains as out of touch as ever with rural Scotland.
Before I go into the details of that, it is important to set the debate in the right context. We must not forget that the plan is being launched on the back of a £170 million cut in Scotland’s housing budget. It is also being launched against a backdrop of damaging rent controls that have done nothing other than drive up rents, drive away investment and place a greater burden on people who want to rent a home than is the case anywhere else in the UK. The private rented sector will be key to resolving housing shortages, but the Government’s rental measures have undoubtedly had a negative effect on the market. Increasing input costs have forced landlords to put up prices between tenancies, while the disinvestment driven by the policy has reduced stock and increased competition.