16th December 2020

 The failings of our unregulated housing market are well documented. While correcting those failings appears to be an unwieldy process, with Government interventions hesitant at best, it seems that a silver lining may yet be found in the disruptions caused by the pandemic. With the collapse of the short term letting industry aka Airbnb, an opportunity has opened up for local authorities to recapture some of that lost ground. It just needs a little market savviness and the ability to move swiftly. Our council housing chiefs could do worse than have a word with their counterparts in Lisbon.

Scotland’s private landowners must be feeling more than a little uncomfortable of late. With the Scottish Land Commission exploration of how land could be taxed differently to bring more benefit to the common good coming hard on the heels of published research into the historic links between land ownership and slavery, on top of growing calls for stricter regulation of grouse moor management, the pressure must seem relentless. Most recently, and again published by Community Land Scotland, economist Prof Mike Danson challenges the economic case for large scale land ownership. Journalist David Ross gives an overview.

The thing about democracy is that while we may disagree with those we elect, the way to resolve those disagreements has to be through the ballot box. If we don’t like them then we should be able to vote them out of office. But that principle seems to have been set to one side when it comes to the planning system. Latest figures indicate that a significant majority of Council decisions to refuse planning permission are routinely overturned on appeal by the Scottish Government. As one ex-councillor commented, it  ‘makes a mockery of local democracy’.

To paraphrase Robert Kennedy, ‘GDP measures everything except that which makes life worth living. He said something to that effect in 1968 and despite loads of rhetoric to the contrary, GDP still rules supreme as the principal measure of how well we’re doing as a society. Carnegie UK have long since recognised the need for a more meaningful device and for some years have been tracking a number of indicators of Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe). Their recent findings indicate Wellbeing was in decline long before Covid struck but nonetheless this could be a useful yardstick of our recovery.