While financial pressures have undoubtedly played a huge part in a slowdown of new homes being delivered, there is a strong sense among housebuilders that the planning process is also having a detrimental impact.

A recent survey published by our sister publication Scottish Construction Now found that the statutory timeframe for the turnaround of planning applications is being routinely breached in Scotland, with readers blaming under-resourced planning departments and the implementation of NPF4 for increasing delays.

To find out more, Jimmy Black and Kieran Findlay spoke to Janice Russell, the managing director at McTaggart Construction, which delivers hundreds of homes every year for Scotland’s RSLs.

Cameron Greig, a senior associate in Morton Fraser's Litigation Department, also joins to provide a detailed look at a specific planning appeal called in by the Scottish Government, which highlights a post-National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) change impacting unallocated sites.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here:

https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail

Other relevant reading:

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

The 2014 Unsuitable Accommodation Order was introduced to effectively end stays in unsuitable accommodation for any homeless person for more than 7 days. 

However, with these laws being consistently broken by local authorities for a number fo reasons Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black ask whether the law is fit for purpose.

We clarify the legislation around homelessness and to share the practical problems of finding suitable accommodation with Cllr Jane Meagher, the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work convener at the City of Edinburgh Council, and Sophie Berry, a solicitor at Govan Law Centre. 

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-homelessness-presents-some-sobering-facts

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

As housing and care providers continue to grapple with Scotland’s ageing population, some are embracing tech more than ever before.

Earlier this year, Bield Housing and Care officially launched a digital hub in Linlithgow. Securing £75k in funding from the TAPPI project, it set about showcasing a variety of preventative care technologies that aim to support individuals to live independently, in their own homes, for longer.

Bield also hopes the hub will act as a blueprint and trial centre for housing of the future, with the new care technologies available for tenants, staff and other stakeholders to trial.

To discuss the hub and the future of tech and care, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black spoke to Dr Lynne Douglas, the chief executive at Bield and Gary Baillie, a BR24 service manager who leads on the TAPPI programme.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-sensors-sensors-everywhere

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

The story behind Hanover Scotland’s award-winning development in Drymen has many threads. 

Not just Hanover’s first certified Passivhaus development, it is located at the very site of its first ever development in Scotland as a separate entity.

The project also touches on a number of issues such as community consultation, energy efficiency and the challenges of supporting a social housing development in a middle class village in such a rural environment.

Joining Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black to tell this story and what it means for the future of Hanover are chief executive Angela Currie and head of housing Janice McDonald.

Kieran also spoke to Mrs Nicholson, a Hanover tenant who is reaping the benefits of her new home.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-from-dorran-homes-to-passive-houses

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

With its latest campaign, the SFHA is aiming to put Housing at the Heart of Scotland and keep it there. It looks to tell stories of the importance of social housing in Scotland and ensure social landlords are given the required support to continue this vital work.

In this episode, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black talk to the SFHA’s director of external affairs, Carolyn Lochhead, about the launch of the campaign earlier this year and its work to influence the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government. The discussion also touches on housing acquisitions, mid-market rent, poverty and the climate emergency.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-campaigning-to-showcase-the-importance-of-housing

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

The current framework for regulating social landlords in Scotland was introduced in 2019. Since then, tragic incidents here in the UK and worldwide events have changed how RSLs are expected to operate, possibly forever.  So in this episode, we’re asking whether the way RSLs are regulated should also be changed to reflect this.

Ahead of unveiling a proposed new Regulatory Framework later this year, the Scottish Housing Regulator has embarked on a national discussion which is currently inviting views from tenants and landlords on the future of social housing regulation. All this while the Scottish Parliament had interventions of its own regarding the operating style of the organisation.

With that in mind, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black talked to its director of regulation Helen Shaw and chief executive Michael Cameron.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-tigers-and-camels-chatting-with-the-scottish-housing-regulator

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

After touching on the use of data in a previous episode regarding Fit Homes, the Scottish Housing News Podcast returns to the issue by further considering other ways in which data analysis is helping inform decision-making across all areas of social housing from creating sustainable communities to assessing the stock condition.

To help with this, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black spoke to Daz Chauhan, a principal data consultant at data specialist Housemark, and Dan Blake, the executive director of customer experience at Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA), who is also chair of Housemark’s Scotland Advisory Board.

In the episode, we discover how data is changing how housing associations approach repairs and maintenance and unique initiatives at BHA to tackle domestic abuse and link mental health to void properties and tenancy sustainment.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-count-things-draw-pictures-and-do-stuff

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

https://www.facebook.com/ScotHousingNews

Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

Recorded at this Year's TPAS Scotland Annual Conference on June 30th, this episode features a panel discussion hosted by Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black alongside Anne Marie Brown, CEO at Dalmuir Park Housing Association, and David Bookbinder, the director of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations.

Questions and comments from the conference delegates of tenants and tenant participation staff included the cost of living crisis, tenant participation and housing retrofits.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-communication-key-to-tenant-participation

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

After the Scottish Government published rules for all new properties applying for a building warrant from April 2024 having to utilise zero direct emissions heating systems, we wanted to focus on what it could mean in practice.

Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black are joined by Richard Orr, the head of asset and regeneration at River Clyde Homes, who talks about the potential impacts on the organisation and the wider sector, how River Clyde Homes sees the future direction of travel and how we pay for it?

Later Jimmy talks to Ross Armstrong, the chief executive of Warmworks, the organisation which runs the Warmer Homes Scotland programme and will lead a new seven-year programme to improve the homes of people living in fuel poverty.

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-will-tenants-pay-for-the-scottish-governments-green-revolution

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

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Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/

More than 18 months since we last spoke about environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting (ep 2), Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black reconvene with Link Group's finance director Nick Pollard to discuss how the parameters have changed during this time and how housing associations can benefit from adopting the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS) to access private finance.

Kieran also talks to Julie McDowell, the chair of Blackwood Homes and Care, which is another early adopter of SRS. Julie is also a board member at Sustainability for Housing - the organisation behind the SRS - and is working to help make the framework more suitable for RSLs who may be concerned about the increasingly complicated reporting requirements. 

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode here: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/blacks-blog-navigating-the-requirements-of-esg

Kieran Findlay is the editor of Scottish Housing News. Jimmy Black is a former Dundee housing convener and housing justice campaigner.

Feedback on this episode and the podcast is welcome via our social media channels:

https://twitter.com/ScotHousingNews

https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156734/

https://www.facebook.com/ScotHousingNews

Read all our news and sign up for our free daily newsletter at https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/