Rural business organisation Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has welcomed the passing of amendments to ensure the needs of rural and island communities are considered as the Housing (Scotland) Bill enters its final stage.
Over 600 amendments to the Bill were proposed by a wide range of different groups, indicative of the scale of concern over the legislation as originally drafted.
A raft of amendments have been approved in recent weeks by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, which will help protect the viability of the rural rented sector. These amendments include a more workable rent cap, de-linking utility payments from chargeable rent for the purposes of rent controls, and ensuring that the regulations set out in the Bill are subject to a rural impact assessment.
Anna Gardiner, policy adviser (rural property) for SLE, said: “We have been working with the Scottish Government and MSPs from all parties to help ensure the new legislation reflects the needs of rural communities and rural housing providers.
“The need to ensure that legislation is subject to a rural impact assessment is particularly important, and creates a precedent for all future legislation to be assessed in the same way. Our longstanding campaign to incorporate rural impact assessments in the development of new laws and government policy has been accepted and we welcome this outcome.”
Secondary legislation will now be developed, detailing how the provisions set out in the Bill will work in practice.
Mrs Gardiner continued: “We look forward to continuing to work with MSPs as the Bill progresses through its final stage in Parliament, and as secondary legislation is developed. It is crucial to maintain the correct balance between the rights of housing providers and tenants, so that rural businesses have the confidence to invest and so that a healthy supply of rental housing is always available.”
Research conducted by leading economic consultancy BiGGAR Economics found that rural estates provide homes for 13,000 families and land for 18,500 rural enterprises across Scotland.
The need to ‘rural-proof’ legislation has been a key concern for SLE over the past five years, not only in terms of legislation targeting the housing sector, but across other policy areas. The proposed ban on wood burning stoves, subsequently reversed, is one example of a policy which should have been subject to a rural impact assessment in advance. Conducting a rural impact assessment during the early stages of a Bill will help ensure legislation is workable and practical for communities in all parts of Scotland, SLE reports.
