Transport and the Environment Committee, 26 Nov 2001

Meeting date: Monday, November 26, 2001

Official Report 237KB pdf

---

Petition

---

Organic Waste Disposal (PE327)

Colleagues, I do not mean to bounce this on you, but there is a proposal that we deal with the Blairingone petition now, as it is a fairly straightforward piece of business. I know that George Reid has discussed the matter with members.

May I pass my comments to you for consideration?

Excepting the comments on Argaty, where some legal concerns arise, I was happy with almost everything that I saw in your document, Fiona.

Are members content that we deal with the Blairingone petition first?

Members indicated agreement.

My apologies to members of the public who might be baffled by what we are doing. We have agreed to bring forward our consideration of the report, which I wrote in my capacity as reporter to the committee, on petition PE327 from the Blairingone and Saline Action Group. I seek the committee's views on the content of the report, which has been given to members. Can we make progress based on the report?

Andy, you are to be congratulated on a well-written and well-informed report that takes on board the petitioners' key concerns. I want to make a few additions, which are more stylistic than anything else. Given that we are short of time, I am happy to give those to you for incorporation into the report.

That is fine. I am happy to receive those changes. Obviously, I shall deliver a second draft of the report to members.

It was useful that George Reid and I got out and discussed the petition with the community. Bruce Crawford also attended. We were on site listening directly to people's views. It is a real strength of the Parliament and its committees that we do such work. My thanks go to Alastair Macfie, the clerk who supported me in that task; he did a good job liaising with me and others to ensure that we produced the report.

As Fiona McLeod suggested, the report identifies the concerns and points a way forward. The message from the report is largely that the Executive must give the issue time, effort and priority; we need to get on with some of the things that have been hanging about in the system for far too long. I am pleased to hear Fiona McLeod's comments. Do any other members wish to comment at this stage?

I congratulate you as well, convener. I am pleased that the report contains a section on odour nuisance, which is a problem that has gone unregarded for a long time.

Similarly, I congratulate the convener on an excellent and detailed report. I signify my whole-hearted agreement with its conclusions and recommendations.

I, too, welcome the report. It is well done, but there is a slight danger that we may unintentionally be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I have no trouble with the report's dealing with the blood-and-guts issue at Blairingone. However, it seems to have broadened out to include the code on the prevention of environmental pollution from agricultural activity—PEPFAA—as well as the spreading of other animal wastes. I am not happy that that is required. There is quite enough regulation. At the moment, there are not necessarily many problems with the spreading of other animal wastes. In fairness to the agriculture industry, no more regulation should be imposed than is necessary.

You are absolutely right about regulation. Any regulation needs to be at the right level with the right focus. However, the PEPFAA code came up for discussion everywhere we went. It was felt that the code is implemented fairly haphazardly and that some resolve is required to ensure that it is implemented more consistently. We were given the report of a study that was done in Ayrshire, which showed that the PEPFAA code was not being implemented in some areas.

Underpinning my report is the fact that, unless we raise the game by strengthening the advice and guidelines into a regulatory framework, the situation will simply not change much. Those who observe the correct and appropriate levels as set out in the PEPFAA code are put at a disadvantage to those who do not. We must target those who do not keep to the PEPFAA code. Our aim is not to increase regulation but to ensure that everyone involved in the process reaches the benchmark. I was conscious of the fact that we do not want additional unnecessary regulations, paperwork and forms—

That is the general principle.

However, something must be done about those who abuse the current code. Fiona, are you indicating that you want to say something?

I was just agreeing with you.

The point that I wanted to make is that I do not want an unnecessary increase in the burden of regulation on anyone.

I can assure you that that is not the intent.

I want the problem of Blairingone to be addressed.

If there are no further comments, we will incorporate into the report Fiona McLeod's minor textual amendments and return to the committee with the amended report at a later date. I must say that I found the experience of being a reporter interesting; I enjoyed it a great deal. The public will be baffled by our exchange, but we will move on.