In response to the Scottish Minister of Public Finance, Ivan McKee’s, announcement on reforming Scotland’s planning system, Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, comments:

“Reforming Scotland’s planning system is key to making housing more affordable and measures to create a new planning hub and increasing the capacity of local authorities by training additional planners to accelerate planning applications will help build the homes that Scotland needs.

“However, as the Minister said, planning isn’t the only solution to unlock more homes in Scotland and solve the housing crisis. Reviewing the tax people pay when purchasing property, bringing more empty homes back into use through financial grant support, building more social homes, introducing tax incentives to encourage investment in the private rental sector as well as requiring local authorities to have a plan for retirement housing and incentivising people to right size can also boost the supply of homes. Propertymark will continue to call for action in these areas.”

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