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Draft Instruments Subject <br />to Approval
Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc) Order 2004 (draft)
No significant points arise. However, we should note the fact that the draft order contains powers that we have been awaiting for some time, under the Fireworks Act 2003. We should also note that the order allows ministers to approve co-operative housing associations for the purposes of claims for tax relief.
Town and Country Planning (Electronic Communications) (Scotland) Order 2004 (draft)
The legal advisers found it very difficult to check the various references contained in the draft order. It is suggested that we ask the Executive to confirm those references, and that we ask the Executive what plans it has, if any, for consolidation of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 (SI 1992/223) and the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/224). As members can see from paragraph 29 of the legal brief, those statutory instruments have been amended no fewer than 16 and nine times respectively. Is that agreed?
To amend an instrument 16 times before consolidation seems excessive.
We should perhaps deal with this particular instance now and, in the spirit of what Murray Tosh has suggested, we should highlight such examples of where consolidation is needed when we meet the Executive.
The statutory instruments in question are not instruments with which the public would never come into contact. They deal with planning and many people could potentially be affected if they are not able to interpret the regulations. That makes the matter more important than might otherwise the case.
Under the current review of the planning system, which is now out for consultation, it may be that the intention is to take into account all subordinate legislation. However, we have hoped for that in the past, but discovered that it did not happen.
It is worth asking about that. We apply a rule of consolidating after five changes are made. Presumably, the Executive does not accept that as gospel, but it knows that that is the standard that we tend to raise; 16 and nine amendments seem to be slightly in excess of that. It would be legitimate to ask whether the Executive intends to consolidate the instruments now, or whether it intends to encompass the changes in the planning bill that we have been told will come within the next couple of years.
Are we agreed on that?
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