It's time for clear actions not words, Jane Wood, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, said as she opened the 2024 Conference by highlighting the need for a long term, clear plan for investment in the housing sector to address the housing emergency.
Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister, delivering the keynote speech and recognising current financial constraints, stressed that they need to be affordable actions with the biggest impacts and acknowledged that the Scottish Government will not be able to achieve the 4 priorities set out in its recent programme – eradicating child poverty; growing our economy; tackling the climate emergency; and improving public services – if it does not solve the country's housing problems.
To help identify solutions, the DFM announced the appointment of Jane Wood to the Board which oversees implementation of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation and expressed a desire to listen and review areas where Ministers may have got things wrong. The Housing and Heating Bills could be revised, she suggested, providing more regulatory clarity and certainty. Something to be welcomed as the conference heard that recent and proposed regulatory changes will add circa £30,000 to the cost of a new build home.
The conference heard that public concern about housing is growing. As the DFM indicated, it is an all-tenure concern, not confined to one demographic. This was reflected in the comments from the political panel comprising the Planning Minister, Ivan McKee; Anas Sarwar, the Labour leader; Miles Briggs, Conservative Spokesperson on Housing; and Willie Rennie, former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
NPF4 took a battering, including an audience vote of no confidence, but no desire to rip it up and start again. The Planning Minister pointed out the benefits of having all planning policies in one document and reiterated previous guidance issued to planning authorities that there is no policy hierarchy and that the policies should be interpreted according to local circumstances. He promised forthcoming guidance on Policy 22: Flooding, a policy which is being used up and down the country to reject housing development.
Anas Sarwar voiced something which many in the planning system believe – planning authorities seem to look for reasons to say no rather than yes to housing. He wants a shift in mindset and culture in planning departments and posited that a central planning resource for projects which drive economic growth, including housing, should be used to fast-track applications, despairing at the average 60-week determination period for planning applications in Glasgow, compared to 16-18 weeks in Manchester.
Miles Briggs expressed concern that northern England is taking investment from Scotland and stressed the need to be more ambitious as a country, building ourselves out of the crisis. He highlighted that investors need a 10 year plan and called for a conversation on amendments to the Housing Bill and rent control policies.
Willie Rennie welcomed the change in the rhetoric from the Scottish Government as a break from the past and a foundation for working in partnership. He called for a new housing plan which is consistent and assesses the cumulative effect of proposed changes and encourages investment. Not a fan of the Scottish equivalent of the Passivhaus standard, he pushed for volume delivery at a slightly lesser standard.
The desire across all political parties to work together is encouraging. Anas Sarwar reassured the audience that Ivan McKee "gets it" but stressed that the Scottish Government needs to listen and everyone needs to work proactively co-authoring legislation now rather than waiting until after the elections in 2026.
In closing the conference, Jane Wood reminded everyone of the definition of an emergency and while she was disappointed that there may not yet be the immediacy of action that she hoped for, she welcomed the change in tone across the parties and the connection being made between delivering housing and economic growth. The landscape is indeed finally changing.
Ivan McKee has promised to be relentless in moving things forward as fast as he can to help provide the housing sector with stability. Jane is right; the time for clear action is now.
Contributor
Partner
