Housing and Planning
Reform Scotland today published an interesting report on reform of the planning system to help solve the housing crisis. Well worth a read.
Continue readingScottish Affairs Committee 9 February 2011
Below is the video of my evidence session at the Scottish Affairs Committee of the House of Commons yesterday, 9 February 2011. My evidence starts at 16:13:30 [link broken July 2024]
Continue readingScottish Affairs Committee 2 February 2011
This meeting of the Scottish Affairs Committee on 2 February 2011 contains interesting evidence from Professor Sir Kenneth Calman and Professor Jim Gallagher relating to the Crown Estate from 15:33 to 15:44. A written transcript is not yet available (9
Continue readingScotland Bill Committee Evidence 3 February 2011
The future of the Crown Estate was a topic of discussion in the Scotland Bill Committee of the Scottish Parliament on 3 February 2010. Giving evidence were Michael Moore, Secretary of State for Scotland, Roger Bright, Chief Executive of the
Continue readingLocal Forestry Boards to manage public forests
(This Comment piece was published in The Herald on 4 February 2010.) The debate in England about the future of the public forest estate is now causing some serious discomfort for the coalition government as MPs are flooded with letters
Continue readingScotland Bill and the Crown Estate IV
The Scottish Government has published its formal response to the Scotland Bill in a series of letters available here. [original link archived – letters mentioned will be somewhere here – July 2024] Of particular interest is its response on the
Continue readingScotland Bill and the Crown Estate III
The Scotland Bill received its 2nd reading in the House of Commons yesterday (27 Jan 2011). The following extracts are the totality of references to the future of the Crown Estate in Scotland. The ten Minute rule bill referred to
Continue readingScotland Bill and the Crown Estate II
Following previous posts (click on “Crown Estate” in category list on the right) pointing to the scrutiny of the Scotland Bill by the Scotland Bill Committee of the Scottish Parliament, it is time to get ready for the process at
Continue readingLong Leases (Scotland) Bill II
I will be in Parliament tomorrow (Tuesday 18 January) giving evidence to the Justice Committee on the Long Leases (Scotland) Bill. I will be seeking to exempt common good land from the provisions of the bill which allows for all
Continue readingThe Future of English State Forestry
The following piece was published in the Observer on 16 January 2010 and is reproduced here with the addition of annotated footnotes and hyperlinks. Last week, I received an email from the campaigning group 38 Degrees imploring me to sign
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