Transport and the Environment Committee, 20 Sep 2000

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 20, 2000

Official Report 219KB pdf

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Petitions

We now move to consideration of petitions. Petition PE96, from Mr Allan Berry, calls on the Scottish Parliament to hold an independent public inquiry into the adverse environmental effects of sea cage fish farming. A copy of the petition has been circulated to members. Members will also have received a list of indications of support for the petition, a copy of the information requested by the Scottish Executive rural affairs department, and a letter from Mr Frank Buckley, which raises similar issues.

We considered the petition on 13 June and agreed in principle to support the petitioner's call for an inquiry. However, we noted that the committee already had a significant work load and had previously agreed other priorities. We agreed that I should consult the convener of the Rural Affairs Committee about the possible scope and time scale of an inquiry. To that end, I met Alex Johnstone on 31 August to discuss a way forward.

The Rural Affairs Committee, as the lead committee, met yesterday, but was unable to discuss this item of business because of pressure of work. It will consider the petition at its next meeting. This committee is also meeting next week. I therefore recommend that we also defer our business until the Rural Affairs Committee has discussed the parameters that it wants to adopt for an inquiry. We shall then discuss that committee's comments and agree our own course of action.

The petitioner is in the public gallery now.

To be blunt, whether he is in the room is neither here nor there. I agreed a course of action and the lead committee has not yet discussed its approach. We have to get the cart and horse in the right order, so we have limited scope to do anything today.

I suggest that all members keep the papers relating to this item, rather than make the clerk reproduce them for a subsequent meeting.

Thank you for that good point. We shall take that approach.

We have previously agreed to take agenda item 6, relating to stage 2 of the Transport (Scotland) Bill, in private.

Meeting continued in private until 12:15.