Hansard

I do indeed have an interest in the petition, through a community group in the Scottish Borders that has been trying to set up an eco-village—a small, self-organised development of ecologically built housing. The group has not been able to get anywhere, despite positive noises being made by everyone around them and a lot of support, even from planning officials in Scottish Borders Council. The group has entirely failed to get any mention in the local plan. That demonstrates how the system is simply not working to allow small community-based groups to develop their own housing of that sort. The Public Petitions Committee has previously indicated a degree of support for the aims of the petition, and widespread support for the aims of the petition has been shown in the responses that the committee has received. However, there is a certain disagreement as to the best way forward. I therefore suggest to the committee that it might, if possible, refer the whole matter to the Communities Committee so that it can look into possible steps of action. The alternative might be for this committee to write to the Executive and indicate its support for an Executive inquiry into how the system is working at the moment.