Question reference: S6W-23750
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 8 December 2023
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 December 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Ministers have the power to direct SEPA to refuse pollution prevention and control permits to new incineration plants under regulation 60 of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012.
Answer
The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) regulations 2012 (“the PPC regulations”) require that SEPA make impartial assessments of all PPC Permit applications and make decisions relating to environmental permits in accordance with these regulations. Whilst Scottish Ministers do have the ability to intervene in the PPC process by way of a direction, they would not normally do so in the absence of exceptional circumstances.
The key policy levers available to Scottish Ministers to manage capacity are in planning. We responded to the Review’s recommendation, that no further planning permission for incineration facilities beyond what was already in place should be granted. This was addressed in National Planning Framework 4, which is clear that Scottish Government will not support development proposals for energy-from-waste facilities except under very limited circumstances.
This policy, alongside the development of an indicative cap for the amount of residual waste treatment needed, will serve to limit and gradually reduce Scotland’s incineration capacity. This approach will ensure we have an appropriate treatment capacity to manage our waste today, and that this treatment capacity declines as we move towards our circular economy and carbon reduction goals.