Chamber and committees

If you have no more questions, Mr Findlay, I will pull the discussion back to Ms McNeill, who I think has some questions on the modernisation of the estate.

I think that we have lost the connection to Ms Medhurst.

Mr Purdie, could you pick up that question while we try to get Ms Medhurst back?

There were some questions earlier about drugs in prisons. I would like to jump back and allow members to ask some further questions about that. We will then return to modernisation for a couple of final questions.

If there are no more questions on that topic, I am keen to move on to alternatives to custody and diversion from prosecution, before we go on to community sentencing.

Perhaps Mr Rennie can pick up those questions.

I will bring in Superintendent Convery on the back of Mr Rennie’s response, if he would like to pick up on some of those points.

I thank Maggie Chapman for her motion and draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a councillor for the Torry/Ferryhill ward in Aberdeen, within which St Fittick’s park is located. The park is also in my constituency. I support a just transition. We are at an urgent point with climate change.

St Fittick’s park, as Maggie Chapman said, is the mother ship of Torry. Generations of families have gone there to play, exercise or hit the reset button. It hosts cultural heritage and supports carbon sequestration and flood control. It is in an important local asset that has been restored and is valued by the community. The park is bounded by a harbour and an energy-from-waste plant, both of which are under construction, and a waste water plant. It is a precious green space for many.

In February 2020, St Fittick’s was included in the draft Aberdeen City local development plan, just weeks before the plan was approved, as an area supporting energy transition. I placed on record my support for an amendment proposing that the site be removed from the LDP and an alternative site found. The amendment was defeated in a vote. Literally hundreds of emails followed. Did I not realise that that was the last green space in Torry? Where are we supposed to go now? What is an ETZ?

The Friends of St Fittick’s Park and others have made a powerful case to save the park. I pay particular tribute to Dr Ishbel Shand, Lesley-Anne Mulholland and Ian Baird, among others, for their campaigning efforts.

The media coverage created some confusion. The project was described as “shovel ready”, but other coverage quoted local politicians and reassured the community that, just because it was part of the local development plan, that did not mean that it would happen and the LDP was not the end of the line for the Torry green space campaign. Which was it? Where are we now with St Fittick’s park?

The proposed development plan currently sits with the independent reporter, and it will be for Aberdeen City Council to consider any forthcoming planning application. In the meantime, there is a wider context.

The north-east is rightly positioning itself as a centre for energy transition. However, to date, the debate on energy transition has derived from an industry context. Professor Tavis Potts, who is interim director of the centre for energy transition at the University of Aberdeen, has highlighted that there is now a need for a community-orientated perspective in which areas are developed in a consensual way and meet both community and industry needs. He has observed that his research has uncovered a strong feeling of dispossession in Torry and that the community has had development imposed on it.

The Scottish Government’s response to the net zero nation engagement strategy identified that participation should be

“inclusive, reflective of all parts of society and not tokenistic.”

An ETZ is an important economic opportunity for diversification from fossil fuels and could have real value for the workforce in Aberdeen, but it must be underpinned by broader just transition policy principles so that communities such as Torry are genuine partners and derive real and meaningful benefit.

I welcome the commitment of Energy Transition Zone Ltd to community engagement and constructive dialogue, and I very much hope that all the decision makers who are involved in the project embrace the principles of strong partnership—not just consultation—community wealth building and creative approaches that genuinely benefit the people of Torry. Options are available in that regard, but there is only one St Fittick’s park.

The minister outlined that the urgent review uncovered that some exclusions had been wrongly applied across Scotland. Can she outline whether there are further steps to be taken to ensure that exclusions are not applied wrongly again?

Throughout the past year, I have been in regular contact with constituents who were vaccine trial participants. Will the First Minister provide an assurance that trial participants will be included in the forthcoming vaccination certification scheme?