Town centre regeneration has been a topic subject to dichotomies in Scottish political thinking. For every person who believes that “something should be done” to reverse the long term decay of our towns, there are others who simply accept that the decline is either inevitable or even hold it to be a positive thing. Common Weal rejects this latter view especially as the pandemic and lockdown has demonstrated just how vital local community is in times of crisis.

― According to the latest figures, 26.5% (or around 649,000) of Scottish households live in fuel poverty while 7.5% of households (183,000) live in extreme fuel poverty. This is unacceptable in contemporary Scotland.

― The Scottish Government should abandon its staged approach to housing energy efficiency improves as it creates ongoing (rather than one-time) upheaval for construction companies and adds to the problem of retrofitting existing buildings to the most efficient standards.