Making communities heard on local plans

Last month I asked where the year is going and, with us now halfway through 2018, it seems to be flying by.

But a week is a long time in politics and there is much that has happened since I last wrote for the readers of the Hamilton Advertiser.

This month saw the debate on stage one of the Planning (Scotland) Bill, which sets out our ambitions as an SNP government to radically change the way that planning works in Scotland and work closely with our local councils to help deliver better access to decision making and ensure more local people are involved in the planning process.

In particular, the bill introduces new rights for communities to produce their own plans for their own places, called local place plans, reaffirming our commitment to involving local people and local communities in the planning process across Scotland.

Committee work has been as busy as ever and I have had the chance to go out into other areas of Scotland to see first-hand some of the work being done in the sectors which my committees of rural economy and connectivity and environment, climate change and land reform are concerned with.

One such visit this month was to Prestwick Airport, which was previously faced with the threat of closure but was saved by this SNP Scottish Government.

We were given a briefing on the airport’s current operations before going airside to have a look at the airport itself. Such visits are always useful in framing the context of many of the debates and discussions which we have at committee in the Scottish Parliament.

Coming now to the current political times, one word dominates: Brexit.

Just this week we have seen the true shambles of Brexit and the contempt being displayed for devolution with only 15 minutes of debate being allowed, equivalent to one speaker, on devolution as part of the Brexit Bill process, a bill which disregards Scotland and devolution and drags us ever closer to a Brexit that Scotland did not vote for.

And the UK Government are at loggerheads, not with the EU in negotiations but with themselves. The Prime Minster is trying desperately to keep her cabinet together, all the while disregarding the importance of the devolution settlement in Scotland.

That is why the Continuity Bill introduced in Holyrood is so important. As we travel ever closer to what will most definitely be a bad deal Brexit – or even no deal.

There is, however, hope for Scotland. Indeed a recent poll shared that a major proportion of Scottish people thought that our best days are yet to come – and they are right.

This month saw the publication of the Growth Commission report, which sets out a potential blueprint

The bill introduces new rights for communities to produce their own plans for their own places