The member raises a really important issue. I am sure that we can all empathise, as we see similar situations in our constituencies.

As the member outlined, planning authorities have the power to serve amenity notices, to require land and property owners to clean up land that, due to its state, is having a detrimental impact on the amenity of the area, and to require landowners to carry out work or repairs to improve their property where its appearance is having a negative impact on the street scene.

Local authorities also have direct action powers to make the necessary improvements themselves and then bill the owner for the work, but I know that there has been difficulty recouping some such costs in the past. Through the most recent planning act, we are introducing new powers to allow authorities to place charging orders on properties, to ensure that they at least get those costs back at some point.

Furthermore, we are about to launch a public consultation to explore the options and opportunities for improving the resources that are available to our planning authorities, to strengthen their capacity to take on that work.