Meeting of the Parliament 31 October 2023
It is good to hear that the Government is doing some thinking. I submitted written questions about what the Government was doing with the estimated £20 million in additional funding that Crown Estate Scotland expects to raise from increased fees from finfish tenants. It seems to have no plans. That is an example of a pot of funding that could aid rural house building.
Our amendment also calls for a council tax surcharge escalator on long-term empty homes. We estimate that giving councils the powers to increase council tax for each year that a home is empty could raise up to £30 million. Better still, it could be a catalyst to help owners of empty homes—of which there are around 28,000—to bring those properties back to the market so that they are lived in as homes and are valued again. As the plan says, it is better to use the stock that we have. I endorse the points that have been made by Conservative members about the need to introduce compulsory sale—and compulsory rental—orders to get those empty homes back into use.
The Government’s recent consultation backed increasing the council tax on empty homes, and a stepped approach. Again, that is another revenue stream that the Government could have put to good use, but it seems to be dragging its heels on that, whereas urgency is key.
Although we welcome the Government’s backing for our call to give councils the powers to apply a surcharge on second homes, had those powers been introduced when the First Minister came out in support of those proposals, councils could have raised £35 million this financial year.
I return to the minister’s initial intervention. A package that abolished small business rate relief for short-term lets and included powers for surcharges on empty homes and second homes could have raised £85 million per year. That is a substantial sum of money that could have gone towards addressing the housing market failure that affects rural areas.
The depopulation of rural areas should not be seen as the status quo, and economic prosperity should be at the front and centre of ensuring that rural communities can survive and thrive.
Today has been a missed opportunity—and worse—for us. The long-awaited “Rural & Islands Housing Action Plan” is desperately short on action.
I move amendment S6M-11027.2, to leave out from “welcomes” to end and insert:
“notes the publication of the Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan, which aims to support the Scottish Government’s ambition to deliver 110,000 affordable homes, of which 10% will be in rural and island areas; believes that an interim target should be set for 5,500 houses to be completed in rural areas by 2026; is concerned that, without sufficient economic support from the Scottish Government, the strategy will not provide the infrastructure needed to allow local authorities, registered social landlords, community organisations and Scottish Government agencies to successfully attract people to, and retain people in, these communities; considers that the depopulation of rural areas should not be seen as the status quo, and notes the Scottish Labour Party’s commitment to put economic prosperity at the front and centre of ensuring that Gaelic-speaking communities can survive and thrive; notes that this rural housing crisis is, in some part, due to local people being priced out of the area by the acquisition of second homes; calls on the Scottish Government to take further action to ensure that houses in rural areas are affordable and good quality, and that existing homes are a vital part of the housing stock; agrees that the Scottish Government should give local authorities powers to introduce an escalating council tax surcharge on empty homes in the next Budget, to be launched in 2024-25, as was supported by the responses to the Scottish Government’s recent consultation on Council Tax for Second and Empty Homes, and calls on the Scottish Government to take decisive action to tackle fuel poverty and damp, poor quality housing in rural areas, to improve transport infrastructure, and to support the economic lifeblood of small rural communities by delivering skilled workforces, supporting small businesses and ensuring a just transition that delivers community energy benefits.”
14:55Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.