Today the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee quizzed Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing on the Planning (Scotland) Bill – Stage 1.
The Bill has attracted hundreds of submissions from businesses, organisations and the general public.
The Bill contains over 46 delegated powers, with most powers going directly to the Minister. We probed this and a whole raft of other issues and concerns including Simplified Development Zones, which were anything but simple for the Scottish Government team to explain, as you can see on the video above.
I also asked the Minister if he was prepared to undergo the same training that the Bill proposes for elected councillors. His interesting answer can be viewed HERE.
It was a very constructive hearing, but clearly there is a long way to go before this Bill is fit for purpose.
The full hearing can be viewed using this LINK
The Committee took evidence from— Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing; Jean Waddie, Bill Co-ordinator; Norman MacLeod, Senior Principal Legal Officer, Scottish Government Legal Directorate; John McNairney, Chief Planner, Scottish Government.