Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-18529

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made an assessment of the impact on fisheries of leasing out parts of the national forest estate in Dumfries and Galloway and whether it will publish any such assessment.

Offering management leases and cutting rights is a potential option for releasing capital from the national forest estate which could be used to fund woodland creation projects to help mitigate climate change. This option is included in a public consultation currently being carried out on Climate Change and the National Forest Estate at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7KUMVM.

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

No assessment has been made of the impact on fisheries in Dumfries and Galloway. However, the consultation exercise and options review will help inform Forestry Commission Scotland''s deliberations on the potential impact on all biodiversity and wildlife within the national forest estate, and this will help determine the range and nature of safeguards to be included in any leases.

Question reference: S3W-18533

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to transfer responsibility for upkeep and development of forest roads under the lease arrangements proposed in its paper Climate Change and the National Forest Estate - Consultation on forestry provisions in the Scottish Climate Change Bill.

Offering management leases and cutting rights is a potential option for releasing capital from the national forest estate which could be used to fund woodland creation projects to help mitigate climate change. This option is included in a public consultation currently being carried out on Climate Change and the National Forest Estate at:

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7KUMVM.

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The consultation exercise and options review will help inform Forestry Commission Scotland''s deliberations on the detail of lease agreements, should the leasing option be taken forward.

Question reference: S3W-18535

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to transfer responsibility for management and development of the forest estate under the lease arrangements proposed in its paper Climate Change and the National Forest Estate - Consultation on forestry provisions in the Scottish Climate Change Bill.

Offering management leases and cutting rights is a potential option for releasing capital from the national forest estate which could be used to fund woodland creation projects to help mitigate climate change. This option is included in a public consultation currently being carried out on Climate Change and the National Forest Estate at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7KUMVM.

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The consultation exercise and options review will help inform Forestry Commission Scotland''s deliberations on the detail of lease arrangements, should the option be taken forward.

Question reference: S3W-18536

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of new woodlands have been created in each of the last five years by the (a) public and (b) private sector.

The total amount of hectares of new woodland that have been created in each of the last five years are listed in the following tables. Figures for restocking are also shown.

Public Sector

Year	New Planting	Restocking	Total (1,000 Hectares)
2003-04	0.1	5.3	5.4
2004-05	0.1	6.2	6.3
2005-06	0.1	5.2	5.3
2006-07	-	6.4	6.4
2007-08	-	5.9	5.9

Private Sector

Year	New Planting	Restocking	Total (1,000 Hectares)
2003-04	6.7	3.6	10.3
2004-05	5.6	4.2	9.8
2005-06	3.9	3.8	7.7
2006-07	6.6	6.0	12.6
2007-08	4.2	6.7	10.8

Question reference: S3W-18530

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

Details of Forest Enterprise Scotland''s income from sales of timber in the past five years are listed in the following table:

Income from Timber Sales

Year	Amount
2003-04	£32.3 million
2004-05	£35.4 million
2005-06	£34.9 million
2006-07	£36.7 million
2007-08	£42.1 million

Question reference: S3W-18312

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how the coastal landscape and seascape are protected during the planning process when new coastal developments are under consideration.

The primary responsibility for determining planning applications lies with local and national park authorities, although Scottish ministers have a general power to intervene.

Planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Most local plans have policies on the landscape impacts of development, and many have specific policies dealing with coastal development.

Impacts on landscapes and seascape may be a material consideration taken into account by planning authorities when considering proposed developments, as may relevant Scottish Government planning policy. National Planning Policy Guideline 13 : Coastal Planning (NPPG 13) and NPPG 14: Natural Heritage set out relevant Scottish Government planning policy on developments affecting coastal landscapes and seascapes. For fish farm developments, planning authorities must also take account of Scottish Planning Policy 22: Planning for Fish Farming.

Developers proposing the construction, extension or operation of a marine based generating station over 1 Megawatt in size within Scottish territorial waters (out to 12 nautical miles) or the Scottish Renewable Energy Zone (12nm to 200nm) will require Scottish Ministers consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Developers considering any marine developments are subject to a number of legislative and other regulatory requirements including the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 and the Coast Protection Act 1949. The local planning authority, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency are consulted on proposals. Issues such as landscape, ecology and navigation may be material considerations taken into account by Scottish ministers when making a determination.

Question reference: S3W-18582

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are employed in the public forest estate.

Question reference: S3W-18528

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made an assessment of the impact on black grouse in Dumfries and Galloway of leasing out parts of the national forest estate and whether it will publish any such assessment.

Offering management leases and cutting rights is a potential option for releasing capital from the national forest estate which could be used to fund woodland creation projects to help mitigate climate change. This option is included in a public consultation currently being carried out on Climate Change and the National Forest Estate at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7KUMVM.

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

No assessment has been made of the impact on black grouse in Dumfries and Galloway. However, the consultation exercise and options review will help inform Forestry Commission Scotland''s deliberations on the potential impact on all biodiversity and wildlife within the national forest estate, and this will help determine the range and nature of safeguards to be included in any leases.

Question reference: S3W-18532

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to transfer responsibility for forest planning under the lease arrangements proposed in its paper Climate Change and the National Forest Estate - Consultation on forestry provision in the Scottish Climate Change Bill.

Offering management leases and cutting rights is a potential option for releasing capital from the national forest estate which could be used to fund woodland creation projects to help mitigate climate change. This option is included in a public consultation currently being carried out on Climate Change and the National Forest Estate at:

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7KUMVM.

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The consultation exercise and options review will help inform Forestry Commission Scotland''s deliberations on the detail of lease arrangements, should the leasing option be taken forward.

Question reference: S3W-18534

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 12 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to transfer responsibility for forest protection and maintenance under the lease arrangements proposed in its paper Climate Change and the National Forest Estate - Consultation on forestry provisions in the Scottish Climate Change Bill.

Offering management leases and cutting rights is a potential option for releasing capital from the national forest estate which could be used to fund woodland creation projects to help mitigate climate change. This option is included in a public consultation currently being carried out on Climate Change and the National Forest Estate at:

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-7KUMVM.

The consultation closes on 27 January 2009. All responses will be carefully considered and will be taken into account as part of a wider options review being carried out by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The consultation exercise and options review will help inform Forestry Commission Scotland''s deliberations on the detail of lease arrangements, should the leasing option be taken forward.

Chamber and committees