Official Report 112KB pdf
The second agenda item is the progress of current petitions; the paper outlines the progress made on the 27 petitions we have dealt with up until today's meeting. I have suggested to the clerk that in future we might group petitions under the date of the meeting they were dealt with so that it is easier to refer to them. The earlier a petition came to this committee the more we should be concerned if nothing is being done about it.
I am delighted that the A77 has been given priority, but I will believe it when work starts, because there remains a question over the funding and there is a lot of concern in Ayrshire that a statement of good intent may be nothing more than that. If we meet again in 2002, I will compliment everyone if it has gone ahead.
We should take this agenda item seriously and look at what is happening to petitions that we have passed on. For example, if you look at petition 4, from MacLay, Murray and Spens, solicitors, who were asking for changes in the Tenancy of Shops (Scotland) Act 1949, I note that the Justice and Home Affairs Committee wrote to the Minister for Justice about seven weeks ago asking for details of any plans he has to change the law in that respect. As far as we know there has been no reply and the committee has not dealt with the petition. We need to ensure that if a certain amount of time elapses and nothing has been done, we contact the committee and ask what is happening.