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<br />Subordinate Legislation
Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2009 (Draft)
Item 3 is oral evidence on the draft order from Stewart Stevenson MSP, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, and from Scottish Government officials. I welcome to the meeting the minister and, from the Scottish Government, John McNairney, deputy director of planning; Alan Cameron, senior planning policy officer; and Norman Macleod, senior principal legal officer.
I hope that my statement will be commendably brief. Thank you for allowing me to come to discuss the statutory instruments that are on the agenda, which form part of a suite of legislation to reform the planning system. The committee will recall the previous discussion of instruments that contained the main legislative reforms. The latest instruments will make largely technical changes, but they are nonetheless important parts of the overall package.
Thank you for your introduction.
Good morning, minister—I beg your pardon, as it should be good afternoon; that has slipped by us.
The issue will be covered under agenda item 5, but I am happy to respond now if that is appropriate, convener.
We will address the question under item 5.
I beg your pardon, convener.
I have taken note of the question.
As there are no further questions for the minister, I ask him to move motion S3M-4197.
Motion moved,
That the Local Government and Communities Committee recommends that the draft Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2009 be approved.—[Stewart Stevenson.]
Motion agreed to.
Town and Country Planning <br />(Charges for Publication of Notices) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (Draft)
Item 5 is consideration of a second draft affirmative instrument. I offer the minister the opportunity to make some brief introductory remarks.
As adumbrated in Mr Tolson's question, the regulations relate to recovering the costs of advertising planning applications in newspapers. The criteria that trigger such advertising by the planning authority are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (SSI 2008/432), which the committee considered in January. Those criteria are broadly unchanged from current requirements. We are taking the opportunity to extend the recovery of the costs of advertising to include the advertisement of applications that are contrary to the development plan. Three other types of advertising are already provided for. I and my officials are happy to answer any questions that the committee may have about the detailed provisions in the regulations.
I would be happy for you to do that, minister.
Mr Tolson addressed a number of different issues, including whether we should advertise in newspapers or elsewhere. Much of the advertising that is undertaken by local authorities and Government is prescribed in legislation to be in newspapers and, in many cases, in the Edinburgh Gazette. We believe that we should address and reform that over time but, given the prevalence of such provisions throughout our legislation, that is pretty much a long-term project. We are conscious of the printed media's dependence on such advertising and we are taking account of that as we go forward.
I thank the minister for his answer. I am sorry that I jumped in a bit early with my question, but I was keen to get going—probably keen to get my lunch.
It is too early for me to give a specific response to that question. In general, we adhere to the principle that at least a substantial proportion of the costs associated with a planning application—particularly a significant application—should be borne by the applicant. As to outcomes, I am afraid that we are not at a stage at which I could bind us to any conclusions. In particular, our discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities are not at a stage at which we could make such a commitment in advance of the further discussions that will take place.
As I read the regulations, they seem to be regulations upon regulations—or regulations to supplement regulations—because, if I am correct, the requirement to publish a notice in a newspaper in respect of the relevant applications arises from regulation 20 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (SSI 2008/432). Is that correct?
Yes.
So the local planning authority is under an obligation, by law that arises from the 2008 regulations, to publish a notice and there is now another instrument that says, "Ah yes, but you can recover the costs of doing so." Is that correct?
The development management procedure regulations are negative, but the regulations that we are discussing—the charges for publication of notices regulations—require to be affirmative, which is why we have had to separate out the provisions. The development management procedure regulations, which have been approved, set out the types of adverts that are required for different categories of applications. The charges for publication of notices regulations, because they are affirmative, set out the mechanism for recovery of costs by the planning authority.
Why is it that you could not devise a set of regulations that said, as in regulation 20(1) of the 2008 regulations,
I think that the point is a legal one.
That is exactly what I am coming to.
The point is that we are required to exercise certain powers via negative instruments and others via affirmative instruments. There is not a process—unless I am advised otherwise, and I am not being so advised—by which we can consolidate powers that are exercised under negative instruments with powers exercised under affirmative instruments into a single instrument. That is why we are where we are.
So you cannot have such a thing as hybrid regulations?
Correct.
Why is that? Would that not reduce the volume of regulations with which parliamentary committees have to cope?
If I may, convener; I am asked why that is the case and the simple answer is because Parliament has chosen to make it so.
Perhaps we should put the matter on the public services reform agenda, minister.
I can hardly wait for the excitement of such legislation.
Some of us are getting excited about lunch, minister, so we will press on.
Motion moved,
That the Local Government and Communities Committee recommends that the draft Town and Country Planning (Charges for Publication of Notices) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 be approved.—[Stewart Stevenson.]
Motion agreed to.
Thank you very much for your attendance, minister.
My pleasure as ever, convener.
Enjoy your lunch.
Firefighters' Pension Scheme Amendment (Increased Pension Entitlement) (Scotland) Order (SSI 2009/184)<br />Local Government Pension Scheme Amendment (Increased Pension Entitlement) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (SSI 2009/186)
Item 7 is further consideration of two negative instruments that were first considered at last week's meeting, when members agreed to seek further information from the Scottish Government. That information has been received and circulated to members as one of the papers for today's meeting.
Members indicated agreement.
The second instrument is SSI 2009/186. Do members agree that they do not wish to make any recommendation to Parliament in relation to the instrument?
Members indicated agreement.
We now move to agenda item 8, which we previously agreed would be taken in private.
Meeting continued in private until 12:53.
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