Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Official Report 813KB pdf
Contents
- Attendance
- Decision on Taking Business in Private
- Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
- European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
- Subordinate Legislation
- European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
Subordinate Legislation
Environmental Noise (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2018 (SSI 2018/342)
Agenda item 4 is subordinate legislation. First, the committee will consider the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2018 (SSI 2018/342). Do members have any comments on the regulations?
I seek clarity about how the regulations relate to assessment of aviation flight-path changes and the consultative and regulatory approach to dealing with them. Obviously, we do not have officials with us, so I am not sure what is the best way to seek clarification. Stewart Stevenson has his pen up, so he probably has the answer.
We will have to send a letter expressing those concerns.
That is laid out in annex A of paper 5 under “Policy Objectives”, which refers to maps that
“estimate people’s exposure to noise from road, rail and aviation”.
The regulations therefore clearly address noise. Of course, the regulations merely replace existing secondary legislation that came in in 2006 that does the same. In that sense, the regulations cover aviation in the same way as the previous secondary legislation did.
To clarify my point, I say that I accept that the regulations cover aviation, but my question then is about how the regulations relate to the processes that have been established by the Civil Aviation Authority regarding assessing changes in flight paths, and whether the regulations will influence those processes directly or make substantive changes to the way in which they are undertaken. It is a live issue at the moment, particularly in relation to Edinburgh airport and the standards of assessment and consultation that the airport is having to go through under the auspices of the CAA in order to provide information about noise and to consult communities. Will the regulations influence that and how noise is dealt with under the current regime?
Okay. We will write to the Government about that and ensure that you are content that the letter reflects your comments.
Does the committee agree that we do not want to make any recommendations on the regulations but will put Mark Ruskell’s question in a letter to the Government to get clarity?
Members indicated agreement.
The committee will now move into private session, so I request that the gallery be vacated. Following agenda item 5, the committee will suspend and reconvene at 2.30 pm in public to hear evidence from Scottish Government officials on a proposal by the Scottish Government to consent to the UK Government legislating using the powers under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 in relation to the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018.
11:49 Meeting continued in private until 12:46.12:46 Meeting suspended.
14:31 On resuming—