Transport and the Environment Committee, 04 Mar 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 4, 2003

Official Report 262KB pdf

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Petitions

Item 9 on our agenda is the consideration of three petitions.

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Planning Process (PE508)

The minister and Jim Mackinnon have already given some answers on the first petition, PE508. I suggest that we postpone consideration of the petition until our final meeting, to give us an opportunity to reflect on those answers. We can then decide whether to conclude consideration of the petition or to refer it back to the Public Petitions Committee. Is that acceptable?

Members indicated agreement.

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Polluting Activities (Built-up Areas) (PE377)

The second petition is petition PE377. We have finalised the report that Fiona McLeod produced on the issues raised by the petition concerning Carntyne and polluting activities in built-up areas. After today's meeting, the report will be sent to the Minister for Environment and Rural Development. It is suggested that we conclude consideration of the petition by sending a copy of that report to the petitioners. I place on record my thanks, on behalf of the committee, to Fiona McLeod for putting together the report. The committee is in full agreement with the recommendations that the report makes. I look forward to receiving a positive response from the Scottish Executive in due course.

On behalf of the committee, I thank Ros Wheeler for the support that she has given Fiona McLeod. I recognise the local interest that was shown in the issue by Dorothy-Grace Elder, in her role as a Glasgow list MSP, and by the constituency MSP, Margaret Curran. If Fiona McLeod would like to say a few words, she may do so. I ask members to agree to conclude consideration of the petition in the terms that I have set out.

Members indicated agreement.

A few concluding remarks for the Official Report would not go amiss. Convener, can you confirm that we will send the report to both the Minister for Social Justice and the Minister for Environment and Rural Development?

As is our practice with petitions on specific cases, we examined the case to which petition PE377 refers in order to learn about the generic issue that it raises. We considered the issue in terms of environmental and planning regulation. We also considered how the current legislative framework is being implemented. We reached the conclusion that the current legislative and regulatory framework has allowed an incinerator to be built in a built-up area and our recommendations relate to the legislation and regulation that have allowed that to occur. For the sake of environmental justice, the powers that be must examine the legislation and regulation that applies in this area. They must find a way of getting round a table to provide a satisfactory outcome for all parties in the specific case of Carntyne.

I confirm that we will send the report to both relevant Government departments.

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Telecommunications Developments (Planning) (PE425)

The final petition to be considered is petition PE425, which relates to telecommunications developments.

Given that we have concluded a letter to the Executive on the review of planning for telecommunications developments, I propose that we end action on this petition by sending the petitioner a copy of that letter. I also propose that we advise the petitioner of the on-going review of the planning regulations that the Scottish Executive is undertaking and indicate the timeframe in which the Executive intends to conclude that.

Can we give the petitioner information about how to access the answer that the Executive gives to the committee on those points? That would satisfy the petitioner.

Certainly.

Will the petition be considered in the Executive consultation? Perhaps the committee should make sure that it is.

The petitioner could certainly submit the petition directly to the Executive.

Could consultation be something further that the committee does on behalf of the petitioner?

If the committee did that, attention would potentially be drawn to a particular petition. Members may or may not fully agree on some aspects of the petition once they have conducted their own work, but the committee will have forwarded a letter about it. If the petitioner wants to submit their petition directly to the Executive it is open to them to do so.

There is no harm in informing the petitioner that such action is available to them and telling them how to set about it, just to be helpful.

Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.