:00:00. > :00:00.Are you having trouble getting on the property ladder?
:00:07. > :00:10.Are we building the right kind of homes?
:00:11. > :00:16.Tonight, on our final election debate, we're discussing housing,
:00:17. > :00:18.something that matters hugely to all of us.
:00:19. > :00:21.Here to face questions from our invited studio audience
:00:22. > :00:27.For the Greens, we have Maggie Chapman.
:00:28. > :00:30.Here for the Conservatives is Douglas Ross.
:00:31. > :00:33.For the Liberal Democrats, Katy Gordon,
:00:34. > :01:07.Let's get straight on to our first question.
:01:08. > :01:10.It comes from Adam Lang who works for the housing
:01:11. > :01:29.So last year in Scotland there were 36,000 homeless applications made.
:01:30. > :01:36.Today there are so many waiting lists for a home and thousands of
:01:37. > :01:39.children wake up in temporary accommodation. Given these
:01:40. > :01:45.statistics, do the panel agreed that Scotland is currently in the grip of
:01:46. > :01:48.a housing crisis? I think undoubtedly we face major
:01:49. > :01:53.challenges. Over the last five years, we have built a record number
:01:54. > :02:00.of houses, expanded the number of shared equity schemes in a shared
:02:01. > :02:03.ownership, and we are now working in a major expansion of investment in
:02:04. > :02:07.the private renting sector. It's going to take the work of all the
:02:08. > :02:11.sectors debase up to the housing challenge in Scotland. I think the
:02:12. > :02:17.priority has to be to build more houses, because clearly. The 150,000
:02:18. > :02:21.on the waiting list, when you take at the double counting and the
:02:22. > :02:26.exchanges, we need 120,000 new houses in order to house all those
:02:27. > :02:30.people, and that's way over the next five years, we are increasing the
:02:31. > :02:37.building way for affordable housing to at least 50,000 over that period,
:02:38. > :02:43.as well as investing in 7500 help to buy projects as well as encouraging
:02:44. > :02:47.the Private renting sector true various incentives. I believe that
:02:48. > :02:54.will also produce up to 4000 new houses for rent. Is it a crisis? I
:02:55. > :02:57.don't think it's a crisis in the sense that a crisis is when you
:02:58. > :03:01.don't know what you need to do and when you're not taking any action.
:03:02. > :03:05.We are taking action and when you compare what is happening to the
:03:06. > :03:09.rest of the UK, as people will confirm, we are doing far more to
:03:10. > :03:14.meet the housing need in Scotland, then any other part of the UK is to
:03:15. > :03:18.meet their housing need. I'm not trying to downsize the challenge.
:03:19. > :03:23.There is a huge challenge in front of us. Remember we have a rising
:03:24. > :03:27.population, a population now at record level. These people need
:03:28. > :03:31.housed. Secondly, we have the backlog that Adam referred to and
:03:32. > :03:35.because of the long-term trade where fewer people are living in each
:03:36. > :03:41.house, we will need to build more houses just to stand still. So it is
:03:42. > :03:50.a huge challenge but one we are up for it. OK, Ken McIntosh, ID
:03:51. > :03:56.statistics shameful? They are. I am surprised that my fellow panellist
:03:57. > :04:00.is reluctant to use the word crisis. If you don't recognise the scale of
:04:01. > :04:09.the challenge, it's difficult to face up to it. Adam representing
:04:10. > :04:11.Shelter is right to place up to the most extreme, the homeless people
:04:12. > :04:18.really struggling to find a decent home. It affects everybody. It's not
:04:19. > :04:21.just the fact that the number of children has increased every one of
:04:22. > :04:27.the last three years. It's across the last ten years. You find that
:04:28. > :04:31.the number of people in poverty in Scotland is well over 1 million
:04:32. > :04:39.people, a third of all households experiencing poverty. Sticking with
:04:40. > :04:45.homelessness, they did pique when the Liberal Democrats were in power
:04:46. > :04:51.in 2006. We had quite a lot of progress in tackling homelessness
:04:52. > :04:56.and it was genuine cross party. Scotland was quite good at working
:04:57. > :05:00.across party most of the time, but Scotland had slipped off the
:05:01. > :05:05.political agenda, just as housing had. But housing had stalled and the
:05:06. > :05:09.first thing we need was a cross Government strategy. There was a
:05:10. > :05:13.much more we could do. For example, and I'm sure Adam would highlight
:05:14. > :05:18.this, our local authorities are on the front line. The services they
:05:19. > :05:23.provide in eventing homelessness, in intervening with people's lives, in
:05:24. > :05:28.supporting the voluntary sector. We are often talking about people with
:05:29. > :05:32.complex needs. The SNP Government have cut the funding to local
:05:33. > :05:38.Government and that is the issue. Would you say it is a crisis, Maggie
:05:39. > :05:42.Chapman? Absolutely, and to have so many people homeless and sleeping on
:05:43. > :05:46.the streets or waking up in supported accommodation, is a
:05:47. > :05:49.disgrace. Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the Western
:05:50. > :05:56.world and to have that situation now in the 21st-century is an obscenity.
:05:57. > :06:00.I think part of the reason is that when we try to tackle homelessness,
:06:01. > :06:03.we don't always look at it holistically. There are several
:06:04. > :06:11.causes of homelessness. We have seen over the last few years cuts to
:06:12. > :06:15.adult, scarier, cut to support services. We have seen employment
:06:16. > :06:19.become more and more precarious. Many people in work are only one or
:06:20. > :06:24.two months away from not being able to pay their mortgage or they rent.
:06:25. > :06:32.So it's not enough just to say, let's build more houses. We need to
:06:33. > :06:35.look at this in the round and really support and invest in the social
:06:36. > :06:40.care services we need. We need to make sure our employment and our
:06:41. > :06:45.jobs pay people with a decent wage that they can afford to live. As
:06:46. > :06:50.well as investing in a massive house-building programme, we need to
:06:51. > :06:54.make sure it is truly affordable. Then we can actually make a start at
:06:55. > :06:58.dealing with this crisis. Outcome to the other panel members in a moment,
:06:59. > :07:04.but the man in the way Scott has his hand up. There is a page on BBC
:07:05. > :07:07.Scotland news website in which Nicola Sturgeon says she is going to
:07:08. > :07:14.end the housing crisis by building 35,000 houses you're on a year.
:07:15. > :07:17.Unfortunately, is dated the 31st of October 2000 and seven. Mr Neil,
:07:18. > :07:20.given that you failed miserably to address the house-building crisis in
:07:21. > :07:23.Scotland, can you tell us how many affordable homes you are going to
:07:24. > :07:30.build in the next five years and why we should believe you? Very
:07:31. > :07:36.briefly... Can I say, at the start of the last Parliament we would
:07:37. > :07:43.build 30,000 new houses and we have almost built 32,000, even though our
:07:44. > :07:47.tax has been cut. Over the next five years, were going to increase that
:07:48. > :07:55.to at least 50,000. But it's not just the affordable housing. It's
:07:56. > :08:02.also the other sectors. We need every year to build in total about
:08:03. > :08:07.24,000 new houses in Scotland. OK, I need to take more views from the
:08:08. > :08:14.panel. Katy Gordon? Alex, it you're saying 30000 and Trump in that as a
:08:15. > :08:18.great target. In 2011, you said you were going to build 30,000 social
:08:19. > :08:24.rented homes. Within a few weeks of winning the election, you change
:08:25. > :08:28.that to affordable. Actually, it's dishonest because you have change
:08:29. > :08:35.the target to get to what you're saying. Let's stick to homelessness.
:08:36. > :08:38.It is a crisis. There has been a 13% increase in young people in
:08:39. > :08:44.temporary accommodation. I also think there are issues to do with
:08:45. > :08:48.what the causes of homelessness are. And also mental health difficulties
:08:49. > :08:52.and addiction. Actually, what we need to do is ensure that with
:08:53. > :08:57.mental health we are tackling this before it gets to the crisis point.
:08:58. > :08:59.We want to put mental health professionals in GP surgeries so
:09:00. > :09:07.they are available in their daily life. We should put it in the
:09:08. > :09:14.prisons, because that is a big area of difficulty. We want to put them
:09:15. > :09:18.in police stations and A We want to make sure that those areas are
:09:19. > :09:23.covered, but in terms of addictions, we need to treat that more as a
:09:24. > :09:28.health issue than a criminal or offending issue, make sure that the
:09:29. > :09:31.prisoners get much more effective through care and after-care, because
:09:32. > :09:36.that is the point where they might lose their homes. One of our
:09:37. > :09:41.candidates was a homeless teenager himself and he had talked to us very
:09:42. > :09:46.movingly about what he felt he needed when he was a teenager to get
:09:47. > :09:52.out of that situation. As a result, we've come up with a whole range of
:09:53. > :09:59.supported housing centres across Scotland with the wraparound care,
:10:00. > :10:06.so support for training as well. Douglas Ross, ID statistic shameful?
:10:07. > :10:10.Absolutely, and the only party that is adjusting it is not a crisis is
:10:11. > :10:14.the party of Government. It should be recognised by everyone that these
:10:15. > :10:19.figures cannot go unnoticed. I think that everyone will also agree we had
:10:20. > :10:25.to build more homes. We want to build 100,000 new homes over the
:10:26. > :10:30.next Parliament. But we had to put the bricks in place to allow us to
:10:31. > :10:34.do that. It's not just housing alone but everything connected to it. It's
:10:35. > :10:38.looking at planning regulations, making it easier for developers,
:10:39. > :10:41.whether they be local or the Government, private developers,
:10:42. > :10:45.allowing them the tools to build these new homes that be so urgently
:10:46. > :10:49.require to start to deal with the problem that Adam has raised.
:10:50. > :10:54.Because that will only scratch the surface. There are far more areas we
:10:55. > :11:00.have to go into as well. A gentleman who has been featured in the front.
:11:01. > :11:08.Mr Neil, for nine years you have frozen the community charge and
:11:09. > :11:12.actually, basically, if you had been inflationary rises in the community
:11:13. > :11:18.charge, perhaps we would see new houses being built. I think it's
:11:19. > :11:24.shameful that you can stand there and say is not a crisis. Indeed, it
:11:25. > :11:30.is. The gentleman in the back at the red. If you could make points,
:11:31. > :11:38.rather than asking more questions. I like the word shameful. Attacking
:11:39. > :11:43.SNP by building houses. The problem is that in the last term of Labour
:11:44. > :11:48.Government they built six council houses. That's a disgrace, part of
:11:49. > :11:54.the disgraceful record of Labour in Scotland. The lady in the middle
:11:55. > :11:58.here. I think there is a lot of talk about the numbers of housing and
:11:59. > :12:03.whether that's affordable housing for sale, but I think we need to
:12:04. > :12:06.move beyond just talking about the numbers and look at how we can
:12:07. > :12:11.deliver those, particularly given the homelessness statistics, and
:12:12. > :12:15.also looking across all ten years, at how we can deliver enough homes
:12:16. > :12:26.for the people that need them. The lady in red. I have three issues to
:12:27. > :12:31.raise. See on your issue of private sector. Very briefly. Profiteering
:12:32. > :12:35.in the private sector is horrendous. The rents are huge. People can't
:12:36. > :12:43.afford to save for a mortgage for a house because 30 to 40% goes on
:12:44. > :12:51.their rent. In the homeless sector, the landlords that profit from HM
:12:52. > :12:57.owes are making money every year by renting out hobbles for homeless
:12:58. > :13:00.people. I think you need to address both profiteering issues there and I
:13:01. > :13:05.am very disturbed by the emphasis on the private sectors. I'm also
:13:06. > :13:08.disturbed by your statement is in people who are homeless as people
:13:09. > :13:13.who are alcoholics and have mental health problems. Not all of them do.
:13:14. > :13:18.We will have to move on to our next question for the panel that comes
:13:19. > :13:28.from Calum Liddle. What will the panel do for young
:13:29. > :13:33.professionals like me who I locked out of the housing market
:13:34. > :13:37.inexpensive rented, private accommodation, a generation who want
:13:38. > :13:45.to settle, who want to live in their very own home? Maggie Chapman, what
:13:46. > :13:50.would you do for some body like Calum? We need to make sure that
:13:51. > :13:55.housing is about providing homes for everybody. The current situation in
:13:56. > :14:00.the UK, housing isn't about that. It's about financial speculation. We
:14:01. > :14:01.have seen in the UK over the last 30 or 40 years, the housing market
:14:02. > :14:13.being the driver of the economy. We have seen all the parties here
:14:14. > :14:17.pumping up the housing bubble, driving up prices, making sure many
:14:18. > :14:23.people can't afford to buy homes, can't afford to rent affordably,
:14:24. > :14:28.that is what we need to do. It is not normal to treat the housing
:14:29. > :14:34.market in the week -- in this way. The UK is alone in Europe in this.
:14:35. > :14:36.We need to make sure housing is about delivering homes, not
:14:37. > :14:44.financial commodities and speculation. Making sure the rental
:14:45. > :14:47.sector is fair. We fought very hard with grassroots campaign, like the
:14:48. > :14:58.ribbing went camping, for rent controls. -- like are red -- like
:14:59. > :15:03.the rent camping we had. There is no requirement for rent controls. We
:15:04. > :15:09.need bring controls to be a reality. But Calum wants to buy a house. We
:15:10. > :15:15.need to make sure house places are not exorbitant. We do that not only
:15:16. > :15:19.through creating more supply, so building and freeing up land and
:15:20. > :15:26.derelict Brownfield sites for housing, but making sure financial
:15:27. > :15:30.services support that, not channelling money on a conveyor belt
:15:31. > :15:35.from most of us to the wealthiest 1%, which has happened for the last
:15:36. > :15:41.40 years, and it is not good enough. Douglas Ross? I am pleased to hear
:15:42. > :15:45.for yet of eating a number of the points in the Conservative
:15:46. > :15:49.manifesto, opening up Brownfield sites about increasing supply and
:15:50. > :15:55.high we can address part of the problem. I was in a similar
:15:56. > :15:59.situation to you, Calum, I bought my first house with my wife, and it is
:16:00. > :16:05.important, because instead of being high rents, you can see a future,
:16:06. > :16:10.you have your own bricks and mortar, something we should all aspire to.
:16:11. > :16:15.The Scottish Conservatives and site of the border, the Help to Buy
:16:16. > :16:19.scheme was part of that, helping people get on that first step of the
:16:20. > :16:23.housing ladder, extremely important for young people like yourself. In
:16:24. > :16:29.terms of Calum, the most immediate thing is, we have relaunched the
:16:30. > :16:33.Help to Buy scheme, providing substantial help for first-time
:16:34. > :16:37.buyers, so you can get up to ?40,000 in shared equity, up to one fifth of
:16:38. > :16:42.the cost of the house. The big problem for a lot of people like
:16:43. > :16:46.Calum is getting the deposit, it is not paying the mortgage. Often you
:16:47. > :16:58.can pay the mortgage because interest rates are at their lowest
:16:59. > :17:01.for years, it is getting the deposit. The shared equity scheme,
:17:02. > :17:04.as well as Help to Buy, helps us overcome that problem. With that
:17:05. > :17:08.scheme, first-time buyers can't be helped onto the housing ladder. On
:17:09. > :17:17.top of that, the shared equity scheme. On top of that, we encourage
:17:18. > :17:23.Rent to Buy, so people can rent for a period, some of that going to
:17:24. > :17:27.water deposit then, at the end of four or five years, you can convert
:17:28. > :17:35.a rented house into a purchase house, helping people like Calum.
:17:36. > :17:40.Maggie, very briefly? On the Help to Buy schemes, that sounds good, you
:17:41. > :17:46.get support and money, but it means, when you look at our house, chances
:17:47. > :17:50.are you are up against someone else also on that scheme, so that does
:17:51. > :17:54.not do anything to tackle on affordability, it does not bring the
:17:55. > :18:02.starting house down. These are for new-build houses! But economists
:18:03. > :18:12.tell us about the cost. Do your detail and Hallmark! This can push
:18:13. > :18:16.prices up. Katy Gordon? Help to Buy can help some people. But we have to
:18:17. > :18:21.be careful, because interest rates being low at the moment, we don't
:18:22. > :18:27.want to encourage people to take on too much debt, because if rates go
:18:28. > :18:33.up significantly, just a word of caution, but in principle Help to
:18:34. > :18:38.Buy is a good idea. But we also want to potentially use some of it to
:18:39. > :18:42.introduce a help to renovate scheme, maybe if you buy something not
:18:43. > :18:47.particularly great, you can be helped to renovate that, giving a
:18:48. > :18:51.wider range of options. Ken McIntosh, the average age of
:18:52. > :18:58.first-time buyers is 30, typical deposit 20%, what would you do to
:18:59. > :19:03.help someone like Calum? You are right, Calum, and as homelessness is
:19:04. > :19:10.one manifestation of the mess where in, such a painful thing, experience
:19:11. > :19:17.is unfortunately all too common. One report today says there are 276,000
:19:18. > :19:23.young Scots under the age of 34 living with their parents, a quarter
:19:24. > :19:28.of all Scots. It is up 5%. Another is the doubling of the private
:19:29. > :19:33.rented sector, your generation! It was just under 50% of people your
:19:34. > :19:42.age used to own their own home, it is now down to 25%. Sorry, 30%. Your
:19:43. > :19:47.generation is being frozen out. And it is bad for you, and Europeans who
:19:48. > :19:51.want to share in their dreams. Homelessness is one manifestation of
:19:52. > :20:00.the crisis, but not owning your own home... So what would Labour do? We
:20:01. > :20:05.offer a policy on this, at ?3000 boost to buy your first home. Alex
:20:06. > :20:09.Neil is right, the deposit is the big hurdle. People say they are
:20:10. > :20:15.trapped in expensive private rent and cannot save for a deposit. If
:20:16. > :20:21.you save ?100 per month, a modest amount, we will give you an extra
:20:22. > :20:29.?3000 over three years, and if you add that to Right to Buy or the ISA
:20:30. > :20:35.scheme, that can help give you your first deposit and fulfil your
:20:36. > :20:39.dreams. Gentleman at the back? They Help to Buy, potentially giving
:20:40. > :20:47.?40,000 to someone, isn't this artificially increasing housing
:20:48. > :20:56.prices, creating another bubble? Lady next to you? When Help to Buy
:20:57. > :21:03.was launched anyone could take part. So a second time buyer, 13 buyer, as
:21:04. > :21:08.long as you did not own a property, not aimed at first-time buyer, so
:21:09. > :21:14.money given to aid was given to people who had a house and sold one
:21:15. > :21:19.then bought another. There was no security of the 20%, which is now
:21:20. > :21:23.15%, so you could not sell on that amount of money and raise further
:21:24. > :21:30.funds to secure more homes for others. Help to Buy is under control
:21:31. > :21:35.and more than it has been, 15% deposit, the value of houses have
:21:36. > :21:40.come down, but at the start you did not do it properly, following what
:21:41. > :21:48.happened down south and did not make your own path. The young woman in
:21:49. > :21:53.the front? We are still talking about buying houses, a lot of people
:21:54. > :21:58.are stuck renting, the average fat is ?700 in Glasgow! How can someone
:21:59. > :22:04.get to the point to buy a house? You should be looking at the private
:22:05. > :22:11.rented sector as well. The woman in the middle? I see a lot of carrots
:22:12. > :22:16.being dangled. There are viewers tonight in the homeless community. I
:22:17. > :22:21.have lads in bed and breakfast watching, it is ?300 per week per
:22:22. > :22:26.person that they are, and also when talking about affordability, how can
:22:27. > :22:31.people work? We are is the incentive to work when people are homeless and
:22:32. > :22:35.they are paying in temporary accommodation three times the amount
:22:36. > :22:40.of a council house? The other looking to vote for the very first
:22:41. > :22:44.time and to be honest they have been let down by Labour, by
:22:45. > :22:49.Conservatives, all the same rhetoric, and the need to be able to
:22:50. > :22:54.believe in truth and politics and the morals back into politics, and I
:22:55. > :23:01.need you to speak to them tonight, we have people put their fault, that
:23:02. > :23:07.you are thinking about them. -- where people put their fault. Thank
:23:08. > :23:16.you, Calum, tempted by anything you heard? I appreciate the SNP and
:23:17. > :23:21.Labour appreciate the deposit is a problem. This generation to be frank
:23:22. > :23:26.have been done over by a generation given the opportunity to be land for
:23:27. > :23:34.hobbyists, incredibly damaging to people my age. We are chasing tales
:23:35. > :23:37.here, as much as you save up for a deposit, the prizes for houses are
:23:38. > :23:42.going up. There is a duty now. The market has failed. The state has to
:23:43. > :23:50.come forward and be brave and give people the right to have their own
:23:51. > :23:54.home. It is not asking for much! It should be a fundamental right for
:23:55. > :23:56.your own house, decent and warm house. Thank you. The next question
:23:57. > :24:03.comes from for a care bellow. -- The next question is from
:24:04. > :24:18.Flora -- Scarabello. was it right to cancel Right to Buy?
:24:19. > :24:25.This was scrapped by the SNP government. Was that a mistake?
:24:26. > :24:30.Introducing Right to Buy, how it was introduced by Margaret Thatcher was
:24:31. > :24:36.a mistake, which is why we have this present crisis. The SNP, unlike the
:24:37. > :24:41.previous Liberal and Labour authorities, we have abolished now,
:24:42. > :24:51.as of two months' time, Right to Buy, already... Sorry? It is
:24:52. > :24:54.soothing 15,500 houses in these social sector today that would
:24:55. > :24:59.otherwise not be there. Had those still been there for rent we would
:25:00. > :25:03.not have the kind of challenges we have been talking about tonight. It
:25:04. > :25:09.was absolutely the right thing to do, it was a contributing factor to
:25:10. > :25:16.the major challenges we have and long waiting lists we have. It was a
:25:17. > :25:24.Conservative government that got it in, Mr Gates -- that brought it in,
:25:25. > :25:30.was it a mistake to scrap it? It was, it allowed people to aspire to
:25:31. > :25:38.home ownership. But what about the impact on council housing? Alex Neil
:25:39. > :25:43.thinks you cause a problem with the Right to Buy, but people in council
:25:44. > :25:48.houses cannot buy those, so they continue renting it. Those houses do
:25:49. > :25:55.not become free. Just people aspiring to own their own homes are
:25:56. > :26:01.renting. It is a correct policy. Ken McIntosh, was it a mistake? The
:26:02. > :26:13.problem was not Right to Buy but failure to build. By Labour? It is
:26:14. > :26:18.interesting. Well, at the moment, on average we are building 15,000 homes
:26:19. > :26:26.per year across Scotland, the lowest level since 1947. Under Labour, the
:26:27. > :26:34.average build was 20 5000. We build houses and time under Labour. This
:26:35. > :26:39.get real! The reality has been on the private occupation sector. When
:26:40. > :26:47.it comes to social housing, mainly we what homeless people need, the
:26:48. > :26:53.Labour Party wrecker was abysmal. We have built 6500 council houses, you
:26:54. > :26:58.build six in eight years! This is totally misleading, implying that
:26:59. > :27:04.the only social rent is a council house. Councils had debt when Labour
:27:05. > :27:09.came to power and could not look after their own stock. Gordon Brown
:27:10. > :27:15.lifted the whole of Glasgow's ?1 billion stock date, and we put all
:27:16. > :27:17.of the energy into housing associations, building tens of
:27:18. > :27:24.thousands of socially rented housing. We are just not building
:27:25. > :27:30.enough housing. I will bring in the rest of the panel, Maggie Chapman,
:27:31. > :27:36.was it a mistake to cancel Right to Buy? Not at all. We have seen the
:27:37. > :27:41.focus on home ownership and you mentioned that everyone should have
:27:42. > :27:48.the right to own their own homes and again the UK is the outlier, across
:27:49. > :27:53.Europe the UK has the highest home ownership rates. We see renting as
:27:54. > :28:01.something bad, that is a disgrace! The rental sector is a crucial part
:28:02. > :28:07.of the housing supply. We have seen 40 years of free-market, no state
:28:08. > :28:12.intervention, no real control of the housing market, leaving us that the
:28:13. > :28:19.highest cost of housing in Europe at the lowest quality. One statistic,
:28:20. > :28:28.if we look at 1971 figures, German houses now cost in real terms the
:28:29. > :28:33.same as in 1971. Yuki houses now cost between four and five times
:28:34. > :28:40.what they did in 1971. -- British houses. That has not created jobs,
:28:41. > :28:44.into the productive economy, but into financial speculation. The
:28:45. > :28:50.housing bubble burst in 2008 and it will burst again if we do same
:28:51. > :28:55.thing! Katy Gordon, the Liberal Democrats position?
:28:56. > :29:00.We have those who feel that renting is the most important and those who
:29:01. > :29:08.deal the aspiration to bite. We have to balance that with a housing mix.
:29:09. > :29:12.Fundamentally, the lack of supply of affordable housing is at the heart
:29:13. > :29:16.of much of the difficulty. If there were more houses available, the
:29:17. > :29:22.prices were potentially be lowered. So was it a mistake to scrap Right
:29:23. > :29:26.to Buy? I think it had run its course. It met the aspirations
:29:27. > :29:35.though of people who wanted to own their own homes. That is a
:29:36. > :29:39.generalisation, but I think it is important to say that some people
:29:40. > :29:42.will always want to aspire to buy and others would much prefer to
:29:43. > :29:50.rent. I think we need to make sure that renting does have a respectable
:29:51. > :29:53.aspiration. Because you are always going to have people who may be
:29:54. > :29:57.because of their lifestyle, it is a different thing they want to do. The
:29:58. > :30:02.fundamental issue is that we do need to build more affordable homes.
:30:03. > :30:06.Let's hear from the audience. You have talked a bit about the housing
:30:07. > :30:11.debt. Glasgow has had there is abolished, but what about the rest
:30:12. > :30:16.of the councils? In Edinburgh, we are seeing that there is a complete
:30:17. > :30:20.housing crisis. And just wondering, who is going to actually tackle this
:30:21. > :30:25.debt problem, because it has obviously come from the Right to
:30:26. > :30:29.Buy, where the money should have been spent on reinvesting into the
:30:30. > :30:35.housing, but that has just not happen. What are we going to do
:30:36. > :30:40.about this debt? Man behind you with his hand up. I must disagree with
:30:41. > :30:44.the gentleman there that housing associations was by the back door, I
:30:45. > :30:53.don't think that is true. The necessity to have mix of rental and
:30:54. > :31:00.opportunities for people to buy. There are a number of factors that
:31:01. > :31:06.affect the ability for associations to build those homes. These issues
:31:07. > :31:10.include infrastructure and land. Along with measures being generated
:31:11. > :31:13.from England such as welfare reform. By the panel was committed to doing
:31:14. > :31:20.whatever it takes to insure that there was affordable homes do get
:31:21. > :31:23.built? First of all, we have now got a record subsidy per housing
:31:24. > :31:28.associations and councils to build the new homes. We've got a strategy
:31:29. > :31:35.in place to recruit the additional people we need to build them. We
:31:36. > :31:38.have an infrastructure fund to help break the deadlock in
:31:39. > :31:44.infrastructure. The answer to your question is a very definite yes.
:31:45. > :31:49.Katy Gordon? Absolutely, yes. There is no point in saying we are going
:31:50. > :31:53.to build 50,000 new homes every don't put the money into it. We need
:31:54. > :31:57.the balance and we are going to a future investment fund part of which
:31:58. > :32:03.will go into housing. We also need to support private rented sector and
:32:04. > :32:09.it may be to do with land value, taxation. We need to incentivise
:32:10. > :32:15.more private house-building also. Douglas Ross? All the parties are
:32:16. > :32:20.promising more houses to be built over the next five years. The point
:32:21. > :32:24.you are making about these sites are important. It is getting that to the
:32:25. > :32:30.local plans, getting the public onside early to ensure there is a
:32:31. > :32:33.streamlined planning process. That is crucial. If we show housing
:32:34. > :32:36.associations and private builders that they can get through planning
:32:37. > :32:40.in a stew mind way, that will encourage them to build as well. I'd
:32:41. > :32:48.agree on is committed to building affordable homes? Actually, we say
:32:49. > :32:53.in our manifesto is we want to build affordable homes. What is other
:32:54. > :32:59.people mean is a price that is 80% of the market value. That equates to
:33:00. > :33:05.roughly six times the median income of a hassle. That's not affordable.
:33:06. > :33:10.That 80% of market value is not affordable. We really, really need
:33:11. > :33:13.to address that. That is why it our commitment is by social rental
:33:14. > :33:19.homes. Can I just hit one other thing? One of the things again that
:33:20. > :33:24.the UK used to do up until 1959 that we don't do any more is treat land
:33:25. > :33:29.that is not built on as just having its land value, not the
:33:30. > :33:35.post-development potential. We want a land price freeze to ensure that
:33:36. > :33:39.councils, housing associations can buy land at that land value. It is
:33:40. > :33:45.much lower than the market value and will free up money to build more
:33:46. > :33:51.homes. Ken McIntosh, our Scottish Labour are committed to affordable
:33:52. > :33:58.housing? Absolutely. Not only that, I figure is for 60,000. The reason
:33:59. > :34:03.is that it was identified by need by Shelter. They recognised that we
:34:04. > :34:11.need 12,000 homes a year. Not the bigger that SNP are aiming for. --
:34:12. > :34:15.figure. That is what the Government can deliver to housing associations
:34:16. > :34:21.and councils, but we also have to adopt and support all tenure
:34:22. > :34:30.support. You are right to identify planning. We would give councils the
:34:31. > :34:35.opportunity to free up the land. We must recognise it as a boost to the
:34:36. > :34:38.economy. These are jobs, this is money in the local economy. This is
:34:39. > :34:38.the way Scotland can control their
:34:39. > :34:40.future. We have a question now
:34:41. > :34:42.from Donald Edwards, who's a tenant of a resettlement
:34:43. > :34:56.centre for homeless men. Why is it such a long and
:34:57. > :35:06.complicated process for the homeless to gain social housing? Why is it
:35:07. > :35:12.such a long, compensated process for the homeless to gain social housing?
:35:13. > :35:18.Katy Gordon? The answer is that it shouldn't be. It needs to be
:35:19. > :35:23.straightforward and clearly there are issues to do with how you can
:35:24. > :35:26.access it. There are processes to be gone through but it should be made
:35:27. > :35:29.more straightforward because it is criminal that we have so many
:35:30. > :35:34.homeless in this country and we should be doing everything we can to
:35:35. > :35:37.tackle that homelessness. I have spoken already about some of the
:35:38. > :35:41.potential causes for homelessness, but I think that fundamentally we
:35:42. > :35:44.need to have a commitment to ending homelessness. We did have that
:35:45. > :35:48.before and we need to have that running through all of our housing
:35:49. > :35:54.policies to make sure that we are not leaving people either in badly
:35:55. > :35:58.conditioned homes or in bed and breakfast accommodation, or worse
:35:59. > :36:02.still, on the streets. We do have a whole range of things we want to do.
:36:03. > :36:06.We are focused particularly on a specific centres we want to create
:36:07. > :36:10.for young people, but there is no reason why we can't do more than
:36:11. > :36:14.that. I think it's important that we have wraparound support as well, so
:36:15. > :36:17.we are providing that support. But many of these processes are far too
:36:18. > :36:22.complicated and we should be tackling that to make sure it is
:36:23. > :36:30.more straightforward. You got a crisis at the moment with homeless
:36:31. > :36:39.people with HIV, which has gone up six times over the last year, six
:36:40. > :36:47.times as much. And that's not been addressed either. Can I say, since
:36:48. > :36:54.2012, this was the legislation that Ken referred to earlier, since 2012,
:36:55. > :36:59.anyone who presents himself to a local authority as homeless is
:37:00. > :37:04.entitled, it's not an option, to get accommodation. Sometimes they have
:37:05. > :37:08.to go into a temporary accommodation until the council can find settled
:37:09. > :37:13.accommodation, but they are entitled to settle 's accommodation. I think
:37:14. > :37:17.the one area where we need to do it a lot more is in terms of supported
:37:18. > :37:22.accommodation will stop because I actually agree with Katy. A lot of
:37:23. > :37:27.people do have more than the housing problem. They have other issues as
:37:28. > :37:32.well. Some people need much more supported accommodation in Scotland.
:37:33. > :37:35.You mentioned, for example, people with a health problem, HIV. There
:37:36. > :37:41.are people with other kinds of problems, it might be an addiction,
:37:42. > :37:46.and this is not a generalisation at all. There needs to be special help
:37:47. > :37:51.for those people with an addiction or with a mental health problem or
:37:52. > :37:54.other issues. It might be a single mum who needs special help with
:37:55. > :37:58.employment, training and a whole range of other things. One of our
:37:59. > :38:02.priorities for the next five years will be to substantially improve the
:38:03. > :38:06.availability of supported accommodation, and that also will
:38:07. > :38:09.make it much easier for homeless people to get into a permanent
:38:10. > :38:23.house, because we are not doing that fast enough for those people at the
:38:24. > :38:25.present time. But the reality and the rules don't match. It doesn't
:38:26. > :38:28.work. Let's hear from Brian Reid, acting
:38:29. > :38:44.manager of The ARCH resettlement How long and compensated a process
:38:45. > :38:48.is it? -- complicated. There are many aspects to homelessness and it
:38:49. > :38:53.does take a holistic approach. Just to touch on one aspect, as a team,
:38:54. > :39:01.what we are finding just now is the delay for current tenants to be
:39:02. > :39:09.given their own tenancy. As of last July, the casework team strike,
:39:10. > :39:17.which lasted four months, ended, and we have seen a sixfold from when
:39:18. > :39:26.someone gets presented, I think it's 12 weeks, that is way beyond that
:39:27. > :39:34.now. Tenants that we have, it's taken them six months to even get a
:39:35. > :39:38.caseworker. Before, it was relatively straightforward. Now they
:39:39. > :39:46.have been fobbed off, passed off, and it has taken about six months.
:39:47. > :39:51.It's just far too long. OK, that's the situation in Glasgow. Ken
:39:52. > :39:54.McIntosh, is that acceptable? Absolutely not. This comes back to
:39:55. > :40:00.the point I was making at the beginning about what kind of society
:40:01. > :40:07.we want to have, relation between the taxes we pay and what we
:40:08. > :40:10.receive. When you would use taxes for the rich and cut public
:40:11. > :40:14.spending, the people that suffer most are always be vulnerable. They
:40:15. > :40:18.are always the one to get squeezed out. As it is, you could do so many
:40:19. > :40:23.technical things, improve the standards of accommodation you are
:40:24. > :40:26.offered. Instead of getting the least popular comedy dampest most
:40:27. > :40:35.rundown properties, you could drive up standards that way. But most
:40:36. > :40:41.important of all is I we prepared, as a society, to pay taxes and
:40:42. > :40:47.expect a level of public services. You either get conservative tax cuts
:40:48. > :40:55.for the rich, which the SNP will not overturn, or you go with Labour. Or
:40:56. > :41:01.the Lib Dems, to be fair, who are talking about putting a penny on tax
:41:02. > :41:05.and you get a ?500 million boost. Let me put that point to Douglas
:41:06. > :41:16.Ross. You are clearly very passionate about the problems facing
:41:17. > :41:21.homelessness. I come from Moray. I know it's given in every area but I
:41:22. > :41:26.was very encouraged today about the staff in a homeless centre. They
:41:27. > :41:32.were talking to people about trying to get off the homeless list and
:41:33. > :41:35.getting back into work. But all this time is far too long if you are
:41:36. > :41:39.homeless so you have to have a next step to go on to. I think we would
:41:40. > :41:44.all agree that it has to be faster. I do think there are some examples
:41:45. > :41:52.of councils that are trying their best. But what about Ken McIntosh's
:41:53. > :41:56.point about funding this as a priority? But there are simply no
:41:57. > :41:59.houses for people. What we have from Adam Wright at the beginning of this
:42:00. > :42:09.programme, there are not enough houses for people. I just want to
:42:10. > :42:12.finally come to Donald's point that something has to be done. There are
:42:13. > :42:19.too many people like yourself who are waiting on the list for far too
:42:20. > :42:24.long. It is Douglas' Government who are cutting the money. I would like
:42:25. > :42:34.to hear from Maggie Chapman now. He cannot continue blaming Westminster.
:42:35. > :42:40.Maggie Chapman. Thank you, Shelley. I think it is a disgrace that we
:42:41. > :42:44.cannot home everybody in the 21st century. We should be making sure we
:42:45. > :42:50.can deliver on that basic human right. We must be willing to pay for
:42:51. > :42:55.it. Homelessness is bad for everybody, not just the people who
:42:56. > :42:58.end up on the streets, you end up in temporary accommodation. As I have
:42:59. > :43:03.said before, we need to make sure that housing is really about giving
:43:04. > :43:07.people somewhere to live and not about financial speculation. But it
:43:08. > :43:12.is about paying for the services that prevent people from ending up
:43:13. > :43:17.homeless in the first place. We need to make sure we have the taxes
:43:18. > :43:23.coming in to paper the social care that we need across society, not
:43:24. > :43:27.targeting any one sector of our communities. Because homelessness
:43:28. > :43:30.cost everybody more money and prevention will actually save us
:43:31. > :43:37.money in the long term. We have seen in the welfare reform that has come
:43:38. > :43:40.to Scotland over the last few years, no real reduction in how much we
:43:41. > :43:43.spend in public services, but we have shifted where we spend that
:43:44. > :43:46.money. It is all in emergency care. We need to make sure we are
:43:47. > :43:55.preventing homelessness in the first place. I think all these points are
:43:56. > :43:59.very welcome and I welcome the fact that there is this focus on
:44:00. > :44:03.homelessness and housing because it is long overdue in Scottish
:44:04. > :44:05.politics. But I think there are two things that really need to happen in
:44:06. > :44:09.the next parliament if you're going to make a meaningful difference to
:44:10. > :44:12.these situations. One is that we need a sustained commitment to these
:44:13. > :44:18.manifesto pledges. It can fall off the radar two years into the
:44:19. > :44:22.parliament. It has to be a sustained commitment. The second is that I
:44:23. > :44:25.really feel we need a new homelessness strategy, a cross
:44:26. > :44:29.departmental strategy to try and wrap in just how complicated and
:44:30. > :44:31.issue this is. I would welcome any commitment or thoughts on the panel
:44:32. > :44:41.about making that a reality. A lot of nodding head and I would
:44:42. > :44:49.like another question, which comes from Beth Stevenson. The Scottish
:44:50. > :44:57.Parliament has increasing numbers of devolved powers, particularly around
:44:58. > :45:01.tax-raising. The Scottish Government replaced Stamp Duty with Land and
:45:02. > :45:09.Buildings Transaction Tax. Was this otherwise decision -- was this
:45:10. > :45:15.radical enough? It was an improvement. The LBTT is and
:45:16. > :45:23.ultimately an improvement. The old system created these tiers, we do
:45:24. > :45:28.could be an extra 3% in tax on value, it is a far more gradual
:45:29. > :45:33.approach which is an improvement and more progressive. As someone who
:45:34. > :45:37.believes in progressive taxation, I welcome that. Could it be more
:45:38. > :45:42.radical? There are many things we could do in terms of approach to
:45:43. > :45:48.property and land value in terms of transparency of land ownership and
:45:49. > :45:54.using land more wisely. I hope that agenda can continue. At the moment I
:45:55. > :45:59.find a lot of the policies of the SNP are tentative, they are not
:46:00. > :46:04.radical, the tin to step in the right direction occasionally,
:46:05. > :46:11.reflecting their BLEEP they are more populist than radical. -- reflecting
:46:12. > :46:15.the are more populous than radical. Our approach to taxation and
:46:16. > :46:22.property general stands against the SNP. The SNP said they would abolish
:46:23. > :46:28.council tax but have gone back. They call that regressive as not fear on
:46:29. > :46:31.working people, but have kept it. We will have a revaluation and
:46:32. > :46:37.introduce a new tax on property and put the burden back on income, the
:46:38. > :46:45.most important contribution to beat. We are talking about the Land and
:46:46. > :46:51.Buildings Transaction Tax. Was it radical enough, Maggie Chapman? No,
:46:52. > :46:55.it wasn't. The thing that is most unfair is the cheapest house in
:46:56. > :47:01.Scotland pays proportionately 15 times more tax than the most
:47:02. > :47:07.expensive. That is just wrong. Any tinkering around council tax, as we
:47:08. > :47:13.have here, just reinforces that. It was a Conservative tax designed to
:47:14. > :47:19.take money away from most of us and channel it up to the wealthiest. In
:47:20. > :47:24.the last Scottish Government's, there was discussion around tax
:47:25. > :47:28.reform, and the Scottish Government's own advisers said we
:47:29. > :47:34.needed bald action on tax reform. And we have not seen that. We have
:47:35. > :47:40.seen the SNP shy away from scrapping their heated council tax. Which they
:47:41. > :47:48.had promised to do in 2007 and we are still waiting. We need much more
:47:49. > :47:52.bolder action and the Scottish Greens' ideas are radical and
:47:53. > :47:59.transformative for society, not only to pay for public service is but
:48:00. > :48:04.tackle inequality. Alex Neil, wasn't radical enough? And has it worked?
:48:05. > :48:08.It has not brought in as much money as anticipated. The intention was to
:48:09. > :48:13.help people on lower incomes and it has done that. Under the old Stamp
:48:14. > :48:18.Duty, the minute you reach the certain level, you paid tax on the
:48:19. > :48:25.whole amount, but John Swinney has made the first 145,000 three of
:48:26. > :48:30.LBTT, the name we give to Stamp Duty, and it is much more
:48:31. > :48:34.progressive as attacks today as a result of the action taken by the
:48:35. > :48:40.NP. The Tories are complaining, because the top of the range of
:48:41. > :48:45.those that can afford ?1 million, they are contributing 12% of LBTT,
:48:46. > :48:49.which we think is fair, those are the broad shoulders and should
:48:50. > :48:54.contribute the most into the coffers of the public purse. It is a much
:48:55. > :49:00.fairer tax than what we inherited. And another big difference that you
:49:01. > :49:06.have not noticed in terms of LBTT, in the last budget the Chancellor
:49:07. > :49:12.put 3% additional Stamp Duty on investment in new housing. We have
:49:13. > :49:16.not, we exempt any investment in new housing from institutional
:49:17. > :49:21.investors, as a way of getting much more money into new housing
:49:22. > :49:27.investment in Scotland. Is it a fairer tax? I want to come to a
:49:28. > :49:32.point that Alex Neill said that Conservatives were aghast when
:49:33. > :49:37.people in ?1 million house would be charged 12%. The original proposals
:49:38. > :49:46.from the SNP were for properties just over ?250,000 to get 10%. It's
:49:47. > :49:50.a strange you are now arguing that 12% on ?1 million homes... You made
:49:51. > :49:55.a mistake, because the shortfall is ?34 million in the first full year,
:49:56. > :50:01.that is from what John Swinney expected to what he got, telling you
:50:02. > :50:10.of the problem. That tells you of a problem with it. Auden LBTT, is it
:50:11. > :50:16.too radical or not radical enough? We want to continue 5% on LBTT up to
:50:17. > :50:20.properties of ?500,000 and welcome the fact this listening government
:50:21. > :50:25.listen to the Scottish Conservatives in the Scottish parliament and
:50:26. > :50:31.reduced the tax for properties are around ?250,000, which would have
:50:32. > :50:36.affected lots of people. Katy Gordon, was it a radical enough
:50:37. > :50:42.proposal? Like many of the things the SNP has done it was not radical,
:50:43. > :50:46.it was a step in the right direction, a sensible step, but I
:50:47. > :50:50.would not call it radical. One of the things the lady asked at the
:50:51. > :50:56.beginning of her question was about the use of the new powers that were
:50:57. > :51:00.devolved and this is a real challenge in this election, a
:51:01. > :51:04.question of not always blaming Westminster, and demanding more and
:51:05. > :51:09.more powers, but we should use the powers we have. We have the ability
:51:10. > :51:14.with income tax to do something about making the country the best
:51:15. > :51:17.again. We have chosen in this election to do 1p on tax for
:51:18. > :51:22.education but there are other options. I would just like to take
:51:23. > :51:28.some points from the audience, the lady at the front? When people buy a
:51:29. > :51:32.house it is a great opportunity to be more radical. Shouldn't we look
:51:33. > :51:37.at, when looking at taxation, to look at making sure we bring that
:51:38. > :51:44.housing up to the standards we expect for the 21st century?
:51:45. > :51:47.Shouldn't we be ensuring standards are brought up in energy efficiency
:51:48. > :51:53.and that people invest in their housing when transactions take
:51:54. > :51:57.place? The man behind? A lot of the parties have talked about the ways
:51:58. > :52:02.we can build lots of new houses, but all of the challengers, the housing
:52:03. > :52:06.challenges, we will not get past those just by building new housing.
:52:07. > :52:12.That is important but not the only way. We have a real problem with the
:52:13. > :52:16.existing stock, it is of poor quality, I would like parties to
:52:17. > :52:21.apply the precision to new building to what they would do about the
:52:22. > :52:26.existing stock. Just before we move on, Beth, what do you think about
:52:27. > :52:30.what you have helped? But he might, I agree with Katy Gordon, which I
:52:31. > :52:36.find surprising, the government could have made the decision more
:52:37. > :52:41.radical, just the steps they have taken have been I would say
:52:42. > :52:45.populist, they have gone the way people would have expected and not
:52:46. > :52:49.made the decisions I would have hoped for, and that other people in
:52:50. > :52:53.my kingdom industry would have hope they would have made to change
:52:54. > :52:58.things, and push the market that is stagnant. This we have talked about
:52:59. > :53:03.prices rising but it is not always like that, some aliens have
:53:04. > :53:08.stagnated, preventing people from moving on and properties being moved
:53:09. > :53:13.on. -- some areas have stagnated. I would like to move one question from
:53:14. > :53:19.Alasdair Allan, what your question? Should we address a century of the
:53:20. > :53:25.unionist declined by building a new town in either the Highlands
:53:26. > :53:34.off-site West of Scotland? Jen McIntosh? Another new town? I like
:53:35. > :53:39.the loaded unionist declined. We have had an SNP government for nine
:53:40. > :53:45.years... Can I just finish one little addendum to the last point on
:53:46. > :53:52.tax? At this election, you have had a number of tax proposals, the SNP
:53:53. > :53:57.have proposed a tax cut to Erwin passenger duty. This is about
:53:58. > :54:03.housing. We will use the save money to invest for first-time buyers like
:54:04. > :54:11.Calum. The choice against first-time buyers and air travel users. What
:54:12. > :54:17.about the new town? I am not a fan. We need new housing. At the moment
:54:18. > :54:20.the planning system is too adversarial, I want to give
:54:21. > :54:24.communities the chance to apply and lead system to find the space to use
:54:25. > :54:30.the land and bring the houses we need. New towns? I am not against
:54:31. > :54:36.them but I don't think that is the answer. Katy Gordon, with a new town
:54:37. > :54:40.be the idea for the Highlands or the south-west? In the quality and
:54:41. > :54:45.government at Westminster we explored the idea of Green garden
:54:46. > :54:50.cities, so we are positive about the idea where it suits, but I am not
:54:51. > :54:56.convinced putting a new tone in the Highlands will be most practical.
:54:57. > :54:59.Surely we have to look at we are the areas of most need are. I'll think
:55:00. > :55:03.more housing is building its weird it is needed, maybe not in one
:55:04. > :55:09.specific Place. Maybe small developments in different parts of
:55:10. > :55:15.the country. -- where it is needed. Douglas Ross? I am glad we have
:55:16. > :55:21.someone from the Highlands to answer this. There are some proposals to
:55:22. > :55:31.build new towns on the outskirts, such as outside of on. -- outside of
:55:32. > :55:38.Nairn. Do you think it is a good idea? If the public support it, why
:55:39. > :55:43.not? But I come on a housing council, so I have to be careful.
:55:44. > :55:48.But this gentleman made a valid point about renting current homes.
:55:49. > :55:53.There are 27,000 empty properties and if we can renovate them it is
:55:54. > :55:57.not starting from nothing to sort out this housing shortfall. The
:55:58. > :56:06.bricks and mortar, the skeleton is there, helping us address the
:56:07. > :56:12.problems and also 65% of properties could also be affected for energy
:56:13. > :56:16.efficiency. Maggie Chapman? The Highlands have been one of the
:56:17. > :56:19.mostly populated parts of Western Europe since the Highland
:56:20. > :56:24.clearances, which we should reverse, and make sure we have the
:56:25. > :56:28.infrastructure and capacity to build communities when building houses,
:56:29. > :56:33.not just houses, but things that come with them, schools, houses,
:56:34. > :56:37.facilities across the board. So we need to make sure rural Scotland is
:56:38. > :56:42.somewhere where younger people want to stay, if that is where they have
:56:43. > :56:48.grown up, and we are at the want to move to. One of them limiting
:56:49. > :56:53.factors is housing. Even if they can get a job, if broadband
:56:54. > :56:58.infrastructure is decent, often housing is not adequate, so that is
:56:59. > :57:01.one of the things we have to tackle, meaning investment in
:57:02. > :57:08.infrastructure, building communities for families, not second homes, we
:57:09. > :57:15.have not touched on that, never mind empty homes! But it means investing
:57:16. > :57:20.in jobs and infrastructure in rural Scotland to reverse the Highland
:57:21. > :57:26.clearances. Alex Neil, what about the new tone for the Highlands? Any
:57:27. > :57:32.proposal needs to come from the community rather than imposed on
:57:33. > :57:38.high from Edinburgh. -- new town. But we are operating on constrained
:57:39. > :57:42.budgets and after all this discussion the priority must
:57:43. > :57:46.absolutely be to build those communities that already exist to
:57:47. > :57:51.provide the housing and facilities, the mini teas, to improve the
:57:52. > :57:56.standard of living and quality of living for people living in those
:57:57. > :58:03.communities. -- the amenities. But if people think they need the new
:58:04. > :58:07.town it is up to people to come forward but that proposal, not have
:58:08. > :58:13.it imposed by the private sector or government in Edinburgh. Almost out
:58:14. > :58:24.of time. A couple of responses, first of all, the question? I am
:58:25. > :58:32.surprised, we have NIMBY, NIMBY, NIMBY, and the exception is the
:58:33. > :58:36.Green, very well done! As someone fiercely proud from Don freeze, I do
:58:37. > :58:45.not think the new town would address the problem for us. -- from Don
:58:46. > :58:51.freeze. It is about improving some of the areas. Some of those we
:58:52. > :58:56.serve... There we will have to leave it, we are absolutely out of town.
:58:57. > :58:58.That's all we have time for this evening,
:58:59. > :59:00.on the last of our special election debates.
:59:01. > :59:02.All that remains is to thank our panel,
:59:03. > :59:03.the studio audience for their great questions
:59:04. > :59:06.and of course you at home for watching.