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We have known that the scheme has been coming for quite some time, as Cliff Hague laid out.

Thank you, Fiona. For clarity, the purpose of today’s evidence is to consider the delay. We are not considering changing the legislation in any way.

Julia Amour, are you aware of any evidence that the short-term licensing regime is adversely affecting Scotland’s tourism economy, or is it too early to tell?

Thank you for that. I think that you stopped there—I do not think that you were cut off.

I just want to clarify that I did not say that any “delay is imperative”; I was reading from Shona Robison’s letter.

Thank you for joining us today and for your evidence.

Colleagues, we agreed at the start of the meeting to take the next two items in private so, as that was the final public item on our agenda today, I now close the public part of the meeting.

We want more detail on that point.

Thank you. The first item on our agenda is to decide whether to take items 3 and 4 in private. Do members agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

You raise a really good point about seasonality, with the end of summer being a busy season. Through the work that you are doing with the industry advisory group—we will go into that in more detail later—is there a way of encouraging people to apply ahead of the deadline in order to minimise the delay?

Under agenda item 2, the committee will take evidence from two panels of witnesses on the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) (Amendment) Order 2023.

For our first panel, we are joined in the room by Professor Cliff Hague, who is a chartered town planner and chair of the Cockburn Association; Rob Dickson, who is the director of industry and destination development for VisitScotland; and Ailsa Raeburn, who is the chair of Community Land Scotland. Gillian McNaught, who is the legal manager for licensing and democratic services at Glasgow City Council, and Gary Somers, who is a solicitor for licensing at Highland Council, are joining us online.

I welcome our witnesses to the meeting. We will try to direct questions to specific witnesses where possible, but, if you would like to come in, please indicate that to the clerks. Could witnesses who are joining us online type R into the chat function if they wish to answer a question.

I will begin by framing the context for the meeting with what is set out in our briefing paper. The policy note that accompanies the licensing order explains that it would establish a scheme:

“to ensure short-term lets are safe and address issues faced by neighbours; and to facilitate local authorities in knowing and understanding what is happening in their area as well as to assist with handling complaints effectively.”

On 7 December 2022, the committee received a communication from Shona Robison, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, in which she said:

“I am writing to advise you that we intend to lay an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument in January 2023 that will seek to amend The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022. This is in order to amend the date by which existing hosts must apply for a short-term let licence from 31 March 2023 to 30 September 2023.

This is a one-off 6 month extension recognising the wider economic circumstances of the cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses at a time when they are organising and budgeting for work to comply with the new licensing requirements.”

I refer to those in order to remind us of the purpose of the meeting. We might start to explore other areas, but I wanted to frame the discussion.

I have said that we will direct our questions to specific witnesses, but I will start with one that is for everyone to respond to. Does your organisation support or oppose the proposed six-month extension to the date by which existing hosts must have submitted an application for a short-term let licence? I would be interested to hear more detail on why you think that. Could you also set out what you think the implications of the delay might be from your perspective?

I have another supplementary question. Ailsa Raeburn talked about the challenges for communities that are, in a way, being hollowed out—those are my words, not hers—by the fact that teachers, nurses and those working in public sector services cannot find housing in them. However, as a Highlands and Islands MSP, I am also aware that there is a challenge around accommodation for people who work in the hospitality sector. Do you recognise that that is an issue? It is ironic. On the one hand, there is the short-term letting industry, but on the other hand, there are other hospitality services that the people who come to stay in short-term lets might want to avail themselves of, but they cannot get a meal in a hotel because the hotel cannot accommodate its staff.

I would like to dig a little deeper into the scale drawings. Rob Dickson, perhaps you can help us with that, as you are part of the industry advisory group, so I have a sense that you have a bit of an overview.

Do all local authorities require a scale drawing as part of an application?