Agenda item 2 concerns the draft Scottish planning policy 4 on mineral working. When the committee considered the draft SPP at its meeting on 8 March, we agreed to write to the Scottish Executive to ask how it intended to address a number of points that had been raised in the consultation and to provide clarification on the issues of noise, land banks, secondary and recycled aggregates and buffer zones. The response from the Deputy Minister for Communities includes detailed information on all the points that the committee raised. The minister's covering letter also advises that the final SPP will not be published unless the committee is content that the Executive's response addresses the issues that the committee raised.
It is helpful to have the correspondence from the minister. I appreciate the fact that she has taken on board the points about noise, but in annex I, on secondary and recycled aggregates, there seems to be no impetus towards extending their use. Rather, it states the current position, which is fair and fine. The vast bulk of the information is helpful and useful and proceeds in the right direction but, if we are to respond, we may want to ask whether the Executive could give further consideration to the issue of secondary and recycled aggregates, to see whether more could be recycled. It could set informal targets and hold discussions with the construction industry, for example. That would help to prevent much waste from simply going to landfill. We could comment briefly along those lines.
I presume that Euan Robson would not want our response to hold up publication of the SPP.
In no respect. However, annex I states that
Does John Home Robertson want to comment?
I would like to make a connected point—you should not have woken me up, convener. On occasion, it has been suggested to me that the regulatory system discourages recycling, because people are frightened of using recycled aggregates on the ground that they will be in breach of environmental regulations. Surely the objective should be to encourage as much reuse of such material as possible.
That is what we want to say to the Executive. You are right to make the point that there is an obstacle on the regulatory side. There are questions about how the content of some material can be guaranteed. The issue would be part of an on-going discussion between the Executive and the construction industry. I think that I have made the point sufficiently.
Do members agree to reply to the minister that we are content with her response but would like the issue of secondary and recycled aggregates, which is discussed in annex I, to be pursued?
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