Read Our Manifesto: A Future for Scotland's Past
THE SCOTTISH CIVIC TRUST
As the voice of Scotland’s grassroots civic and heritage societies, The Scottish Civic Trust has more than 150 local civic member groups across Scotland. We work with these and other national organisations to celebrate Scotland’s built environment, take action for its improvement and empower its communities.
Founded in 1967, The Scottish Civic Trust successfully campaigned for the preservation of Edinburgh New Town and New Lanark, now both World Heritage Sites. Since this time, we have diversified to ensure that Scotland’s unique built heritage is preserved and that all of Scotland’s communities are empowered to influence and celebrate the uniqueness of Scotland’s villages, towns and cities. We take an approach based on The Scottish Government’s Place Principle to ensure that everyone feels represented in civic life and feels empowered to contribute to the continuing story of Scotland’s diverse places.
Our Manifesto
Our Manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Government elections will be shared with all of Scotland’s political parties. Our key asks are that the new Scottish Government:
1. Strengthen the capacity of local authority planning services
2. Abolish the 20% VAT rate on maintaining and repairing historic buildings
3. Introduce a presumption against the demolition of historic buildings
4. Reinforce Planning Guidance which implements the principles of New Urbanism, including walkable and twenty-minute neighbourhoods
5. Implement a presumption of Critical Regionalism in all new housing developments
Why?
Scotland's historic buildings are a reflection of our country's unique culture, with our built and historic environment playing a significant role in driving economic growth and delivering for communities at a local level. Yet, with over 2,000 buildings officially classified as 'at risk', our distinctive built heritage is under threat. At a national level too, the historic environment is facing serious challenges that necessitate support, investment, and effective policies which will incentivise and ensure appropriate maintenance and protection, which will enable and allow the historic environment to continue to deliver for generations to come.
Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 has not been implemented uniformly across Scotland’s local authorities leading to confusion and an unwillingness to act to protect historic buildings due to lack of expertise and fear of litigation. Communities are feeling disempowered due to a lack of voice in planning decisions as change happens around them and communities are transformed by new housing estates, the demolition of beloved buildings, lack of amenities and poor transport links. The Scottish Civic Trust works hard with communities to promote cohesion, belonging and the preservation of unique civic identities but more is required to ensure that Scotland’s National Performance Framework, economic and social development outcomes are met through the creation and preservation of Place.
The following three pages set out how the new Scottish Government can begin to address these issues, harnessing the knowledge and expertise of The Scottish Civic Trust and enabling the community capacity of its affiliate members and associates.
The Solution
The Scottish Civic Trust are at the forefront of advocating for the concerns of Scotland’s civic and heritage groups. So, on behalf of our affiliate membership, we call on The Scottish Government to take action to:
1: Strengthen the capacity of local authority planning services
Local Authorities are often reluctant to use their powers around Compulsory Purchase due to fear of litigation and increased costs. Due to the recent Cost of Living Crisis, Local Authority Legal Departments often lack the expertise needed to undertake Compulsory Purchase. Additionally, Planning Authorities lack the capacity to issue notices to tackle blight.
Local Authorities need to be supported to retain skills and knowledge in these areas in order to reduce blight in communities, promoting community wellbeing and cohesion and protecting Scotland’s historic environment.
Encouraging Higher Education and professional bodies to provide training for planners which includes urban design and its effect on community wellbeing will also ensure that historic buildings are respected and their potential is acknowledged in urban design schemes.’
Introducing a mandatory requirement for local planning authorities and developers to engage conservation accredited engineers and architects in all cases of work involving listed buildings will ensure that appropriate actions are taken to preserve the unique character of these buildings and prevent demolitions after interventions such as the removal of roofs etc which undermine the integrity of the building.
The Scottish Government should:
· Streamline and increase the powers of Local Planning Authorities to enable the compulsory purchase of land where planning permission has lapsed or development has not commenced to tackle land hoarding and the blight that this creates for local communities
· Create a statutory obligation for local authorities to retain their skills and expertise in planning and the legal processes which underpin the effective preservation of historic buildings, including the use of Conservation Architects in all decisions involving the historic environment
· Remove the requirement to pay compensation for long term empty properties in the CPO process to encourage responsible property ownership
· Reduce the blight in our cities and towns by creating schemes incentivising developers to bring these building back into use to help tackle our housing crisis
· Work with Higher Education institutes to ensure that Planners are trained in the community health and wellbeing impacts of planning and urban design.
2: Abolish the 20% VAT rate on maintaining and repairing historic buildings
Although this matter is within the remit of the UK Parliament, this punitive tax discourages the redevelopment and re-use of our historic buildings which are often unique and important, and around which the identities of communities are established and thrive. The Scottish Government should engage with the UK Government at the earliest opportunity to advocate to change this policy. New build projects benefit from a 0% VAT rate which encourages new buildings at the expense of maintaining and enhancing existing and historic building stock. This tax is a financial disincentive to the preservation of our unique built heritage and directly contributes to the needless loss of special architectural and historic interest in communities.
Estimates from the Institute of Historic Building Conservation suggest that even a reduction from 20% to 5% on heritage repairs and maintenance could result in a £15 billion boost to the economy, the creation of 95,000 new jobs across the UK, and a carbon reduction of 240,000 tonnes of CO2.
3: Introduce a presumption against the demolition of historic buildings
As well as contributing to civic pride and wellbeing, our built environment can help us to achieve our challenging Net Zero targets, as the greenest buildings are the ones that already exist.
Removing the 20% VAT will incentivise the regeneration and reuse of historic buildings over demolition, reducing the carbon footprint of the UK through the retention of Embodied Carbon. This will encourage development to ensure that communities have access to well-maintained and retrofitted homes and public buildings, as well as contributing to urban renewal and revival. This presumption will also enable the creation and promotion of new skills and traditional skills which are currently at risk.
Currently, the demolition of historic buildings, replacing them with new builds, is incentivised through taxation which does not apply VAT to new build projects. Consideration should be given to the imposition of a “demolition levy” which would remove the incentive to replace historic buildings with new build projects.
Recycling building materials will reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to the local circular economy.
The Scottish Government should:
· Advocate for the reduction or removal of VAT on the redevelopment of historic buildings to maximise reuse and preserve local place anchors which define the uniqueness of Place
· Consider the imposition of a demolition levy to de-incentivise replacing these unique place markers with new build projects
· Issue and implement guidance for local planning authorities on the reuse of buildings and building materials to ensure the reduction of CO2 emissions through the release of embodied carbon.
4. Reinforce Planning Guidance which implements the principles of New Urbanism, including walkable and twenty-minute neighbourhoods
The literature surrounding urban planning and design and its links to the wellbeing of local communities is extensive, however the application of these design principles is uneven and often benefits more affluent communities. The Scottish Government should strengthen and implement the principles enshrined in The Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework 4 to ensure that all new build developments include:
· Access to green space and places to congregate
· Provide multi-use, well connected spaces featuring public art wherever possible
· Ensure that transport links and basic amenities such as shops, health care services and leisure services, including libraries and museums are easily accessible
· Future proofing the design of new build homes to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, mitigate against increased rainfall and prepare for extreme weather events.
5. Implement a presumption of Critical Regionalism in all new housing developments
Critical Regionalism allows new build housing to reflect the unique character of the architecture of the village, town or city in which it is situated. By adapting new housing design to the existing community context, new build housing estates are integrated into communities much more effectively. Adding this to the existing NPF4 guidance will ensure that:
· Community cohesion is preserved and enhanced
· The unique character of Scotland’s communities is preserved and enhanced
· Prevents “white box” standardised housing being added to existing communities, homogenising Scotland’s housing portfolio and undermining The Scottish Government’s Place Principle
· Democratises Scotland’s housing portfolio: it is often affordable housing which is the most standardised and imposed on the existing architecture and character of our communities.
Conclusion
Our Manifesto asks are based on communications with our extensive network of over 150 local civic organisations across the whole of Scotland. They are also informed by, and comply with, the National Planning Framework 4 Guidance currently being reviewed and implemented in 2023.
The Director and Trustees would welcome further conversation around our Manifesto asks which focus on the preservation of Scotland’s historic built environment and the creation of the future historic environment which is equitable to all communities, uniquely Scottish and addresses the Climate Emergency.