Publication - Minutes

Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group meeting: November 2017

Published: 11 December 2017
Topic: Housing
Date of meeting: 23 November 2017
Date of next meeting: 22 February 2018
Location: Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh

Minutes and papers for the eighth meeting of the JHPDG group, held in Edinburgh.

Attendees and apologies

Lesley Fraser, Director for Housing and Social Justice, Scottish Government (JHPDG Co-Chair)
Tom Barclay, RICS (JHPDG Co-Chair)
David Signorini, Deputy Director, Better Homes Division, Scottish Government
Deborah Smith, Deputy Director More Homes Division, Scottish Government
Audrey MacDougall, Head of Communities Analytical Services, Scottish Government
John McNairney, Chief Planner, Planning & Architecture Division, Scottish Government
Annette Finnan, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (subs)
Tony Cain, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (Policy Manager)
Nicola Dickie, COSLA
Jim MacDonald, Architecture and Design Scotland
Annie Mauger, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (Chief Executive)
June Deasy, Council of Mortgage Lenders (Policy Consultant)
Lori McElroy, Existing Homes Alliance
David Bookbinder, Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Association (Director)
Peter Marshall, Heads of Planning Scotland. (Strategy & Policy Manager – Planning & Regeneration, Perth & Kinross Council)
George Dodds, NHS Health Scotland (Director of Health Equity)
Nicola Barclay, Homes for Scotland (Chief Executive)
Malcolm Fraser, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (Director)
Archie Rintoul, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Scotland
Craig McLaren, Royal Town Planning Institute (Director)
Mike Staples, Rural Housing Organisation Representatives
Ken Ross, Scottish Property Federation (Chief Executive, Ross Developments and Renewables)
David Stewart, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (subs)
Barry White, Scottish Futures Trust
Michael Cameron, Scottish Housing Regulator
Adam Lang, Shelter Scotland (subs)
Sharon Donohoe, Tenant Information Service (Director)

Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group Members

Jon Sparkes, Crisis
John Mills, Fife Council
Russell Barr, Former moderator, Church of Scotland
David Duke, Street Soccer/ChangeWorks
Josh Littlejohn, Social Bite
Lorraine McGrath, Simon Community/Streetwork
Mike Dailly, Govan Law Centre
Alison Watson, Shelter Scotland

Others Attending:

Mark Hunter, Strategic Development Manager, Scottish Water
Sue Lane, Head of Innovation Initiatives, Financial Innovation Unit, More Homes Division, Scottish Government
Lisa Bullen, Planning and Infrastructure Team Leader, More Homes Division, Scottish Government
Catriona MacKean, Scottish Government
Angela O’Brien, Scottish Government
Julie Stuart, Scottish Government
Merlin Kemp, Scottish Government
Matt Howarth, Scottish Government
Andrew Mott, Scottish Government (Secretariat)
Bethany Wilson, Scottish Government (Secretariat)

Apologies:

Elaine McHugh Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (subs Annette Finnan)
Ed Monaghan, Construction Scotland
Hugh McClung, Regional Network of Registered Tenants Organisations
George McGuinness, Regional Network of Registered Tenants Organisations
Caroline Elgar, Scottish Association of Landlords
Sarah Boyack, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (subs David Stewart)
Norman Kerr, Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum
Professor Ken Gibb, Professor in Housing Economics, University of Glasgow

Items and actions

Introductions, apologies, declaration of conflicts of interest, minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

Paper: JHPDG 65

1. Lesley Fraser (LF) chairing the initial agenda items, welcomed everyone to the tenth meeting of the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group (JHPDG), and noted apologies and attendees as above.

2. Members were invited to declare any specific conflicts of interest which might arise in the course of discussions. No conflicts of interest were flagged by any members with regard to the 23 November meeting.

3. The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 21 June 2017, were agreed as read.

Appointment of Tom Barclay as co-chair

4. The appointment of Tom Barclay (TB) as co-chair for a second term was confirmed.

5. TB thanked members for their support, and emphasised the breadth of participation and focus on action which members bring to the JHPDG.

6. He set out his hopes for what the JHPDG will achieve over the coming two years, acknowledging that the headline challenges had moved on since the Joint Delivery Plan was originally conceived. He identified three priority areas for the group:

capacity building in the face of Brexit and continued UKG austerity
investing in Scotland and promoting development across all tenures
housing and the poverty gap – making Scotland healthier, wealthier and a better place to do business using housing as a socioeconomic dynamo.

7. TB chaired the remainder of the meeting.

Scottish Government Strategic Update

8. LF briefly updated the Group on Scottish Government Strategic Developments.

Infrastructure

Paper: ‘Scottish Government & Scottish Water Working Together’

9. Sue Lane (SL) introduced this item with reference to the action being taken by Scottish Government to improve infrastructure delivery: better regional alignment through City Deals; better finance through the Housing Infrastructure Fund; better planning through the Planning Bill and review; and better co-ordination through working with infrastructure providers, particularly a successful co-production effort with Scottish Water where the Minister for Housing and Local Government had noted significant improvements.

10. Mark Hunter (MH) gave a brief presentation setting out Scottish Water’s approach to the challenges faced in delivering infrastructure for new developments, and a culture change to engage with customers, particularly in earlier engagement with developers and housing associations.

11. Lisa Bullen (LB) spoke about funding for infrastructure and how the Scottish Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund was supporting this.

12. Nicola Barclay (NB) outlined Homes for Scotland’s positive engagement with Scottish Water, and the ways in which both developers and Scottish Water were changing their approaches as a result. She agreed with the assessment of significant improvement. She highlighted major remaining infrastructure concerns around the funding of community infrastructure, which was blocking developers and for which solutions appeared limited; and infrastructure issues for SMEs working with smaller sites and in a context where volume builders were stretched. Homes for Scotland planned to focus on this in 2018.

13. Points raised by JHPDG members during the panel Q & A included:

Appreciation from many for SW improvements and accessibility.
Whether a central body to coordinate infrastructure bodies and their investment (transport, water, schools, digital, housing etc) would be helpful and, if not, how could their alignment and planning on housing, with councils and other partners be achieved? The City Deal approach might offer one solution.
How to capture increased land values and the role of the Scottish Land Commission?
Mapping and use of data for common use, especially on digital platforms. A digital task force was suggested.
Whether infrastructure could be considered earlier in the planning process – giving infrastructure providers more certainty and coordination around development plans and sites. There were currently 13,000 sites, totalling over 0.5 million homes, in plans.
Openreach performance had improved recently.

Update on evolution of group: remit, outcomes, working groups

Papers: JHPDG 67 & JHPDG 68

14. Andrew Mott spoke to papers JHPDG 67 and JHPDG 68.

15. It was agreed that the 34 outcomes of the Joint Housing Delivery Plan would be refreshed, and delivered by the identified groups. A further update would be presented at the next meeting.

16. The revised remit for the group was agreed.

Voting on forward agenda

Paper: JHPDG 69

17. Members voted on and made suggestions for future agenda items during the break. The results of the voting and a forward look for the 2018 and 2019 meetings would be circulated with the papers for the next meeting.

Homelessness

18. TB welcomed Jon Sparkes and members of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group.

19. Jon Sparkes, Chair of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group, updated the JHPDG on the work of the Action Group to date, including the meeting of the Action Group on 22 November, and plans for delivering the First Minister’s ambitions to: eradicate rough sleeping; transform the use of temporary accommodation; and, ultimately, end homelessness for good in Scotland.

20. Members broke into five break-out groups to discuss the questions posed in Paper: JHPDG 70:

How can we act together to end rough sleeping for good?
How can we act together to transform the use of temporary accommodation?

21. Representatives from each of the five break-out groups fed back to Jon Sparkes and the plenary group on the main points of their discussions. (A summary of these points will be made available on the Knowledge Hub and the Scottish Government website and provided as an information paper for the next meeting.)

22. Jon Sparkes thanked members for their contributions, and reflected back five themes in response to the points shared by the groups:

Supply of housing
Affordability of housing
Access to housing
Social housing
Welfare reform

Any other business

23. There was no other business brought forward.

24. TB passed on confirmation from the Chief Planner that the Planning Bill was on course for introduction in early December.

25. TB thanked Annie Mauger and the Chartered Institute of Housing for their hard work on the successful Scottish Housing Day in September.

26. Members were invited to submit any further suggestions for issues to be discussed in future plenary meetings to the secretariat, as well as any venue feedback or suggestions. (Action Points 1 & 2)

27. Date of Next Meeting: 22 February 2018

Scottish Government December 2017

Action Points