MSPs call for action to halt the long-term decline of Scotland's town centres
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A committee of MSPs has made 41 recommendations for action to halt the long-term decline of Scotland's town centres in a new report.
The economy and fair work committee called on the Scottish Government to set out how it would address three specific and linked areas of policy.
The first was to show “how cohesion of its cross-portfolio policy will be achieved to ensure and maintain the necessary direction of travel” followed by stating “who will have overall responsibility for ensuring that” and finally how to avoid “silo-working.”
It went on to call for “rebalancing the cost of doing business in town centres versus out of town sites” as “the overarching principle.”
One way to do that would be to give “councils the power to levy an out-of-town development premium or a business rates surcharge” for town centre regeneration.
It also voiced its support for greater “transparency of beneficial ownership of town centre property and land” as “absentee owners can still be a problem.”
This is particularly a problem in many town centres, including Inverness, where who owns what remains obscure and can hinder the redevelopment of properties.
The report stated: “It is the committee’s strong view that all property and landowners should be contactable and there should be clarity on who the owner is.”
Among those who sit on the committee is Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston.
He said that each area across the region faces its own specific challenges as they can involve “rurality, population and infrastructure can vary so much.”
“This inquiry really wanted to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by communities across the country to get a real sense of what is going on in our town centres,” he said.
“We wanted to hear more about how they’ve adapted to the many challenges they’ve faced in recent years and about some of the excellent examples of community regeneration.
“Each of our towns face their own set of unique challenges. That’s particularly true across the Highlands and Islands where issues such as rurality, population and infrastructure can vary so much.
“But we listened to many common concerns and those are reflected in the report we’ve published today. From the benefits of having a clear vision and strategy for the development of our towns which is led by those communities to strengthening transparency over ownership and action on derelict properties.”
