- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances it considers that every household in a community affected by a local plan should be consulted as part of the local plan examination process.
Answer
It is impossible to anticipate every possible circumstance, but it will rarely be appropriate to consult every household in a community as part of a development plan examination process.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers ministers have to intervene in the local plan examination process.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02188 on 12 September 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its definition of “effective housing land" under Scottish Planning Policy changes depending on variations in the housing market.
Answer
The definition of effective housing land does not change, but the effectiveness of individual sites may change in the light of economic circumstances. The chief planner wrote to planning authorities on 29 October 2010 (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/212607/0106433.pdf) advising on the continued provision of an effective supply of land for housing in the changed economic climate.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what discretion ministers have to intervene as part of a local plan examination process.
Answer
Scottish Ministers appoint the person who is to carry out the examination, but they have no powers to intervene in the running of the examination. Section 19(5) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 states that the form that the examination is to take is to be at the discretion of the appointed person.
Following completion of the examination, the reporter sends their report to the planning authority. Apart from certain limited exceptions, authorities must make any modifications to plans that are recommended in examination reports. Within three months of receiving the report, authorities must send the modifications, the proposed plan they wish to adopt, and the advert of their intention to adopt the plan to Scottish Ministers. There is then a 28-day period during which ministers may delay the adoption of the plan, direct the authority to consider modifying the plan, or direct that the plan should only come into force on being approved by them.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive which ministers were involved in the examination of the North Lanarkshire local plan when submitted on 22 September 2010.
Answer
No minister was directly involved. The appointment of reporters to examine development plans is delegated to the chief reporter.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 22 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what provisions there are to ensure adequate bus coverage at peak times.
Answer
The majority of bus services in Scotland are operated on a commercial basis by private bus companies. Provided that an operator registers a service with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner, they can operate any route to any frequency they wish. Local authorities can provide subsidy for services that are not provided on a commercial basis but this is entirely a matter for the local authority. The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities for this purpose.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 22 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what penalties there are for bus companies that fail to satisfy local demand.
Answer
The provision of local bus services is generally a matter for individual bus operators, who use their own commercial judgement on service routes and frequencies including the number and size of vehicles used. Local authorities can provide subsidy for services that are not provided on a commercial basis but this is entirely a matter for the local authority. The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities for this purpose.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 22 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money has been spent subsidising bus services in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.
Answer
Local authorities can provide subsidy for services that are not provided on a commercial basis. In addition, the Scottish Government provides subsidy to all local bus services through the Bus Service Operators Grant scheme. Scotland level figures are available from the Scottish Government''s
Bus and Coach Statistics publication which can be found at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Transport-Travel/PubBusCoach
Table 10 shows local authority support for bus operators and table 12 shows Bus Service Operators Grant expenditure. This information is not available at Scottish Parliamentary Constituency level.
An updated edition of Bus and Coach Statistics will be published on 12 April 2011.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 17 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what provisions there are to ensure that the number of buses in an area meets local demand.
Answer
The provision of local bus services is generally a matter for individual bus operators, who use their own commercial judgement on service routes and frequencies including the number and size of vehicles used. Local authorities can provide subsidy for services that are not provided on a commercial basis but this is entirely a matter for the local authority. The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities for this purpose.
- Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 17 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it takes to ensure the areas that are not well served by rail links have sufficient bus services.
Answer
The majority of bus services in Scotland are operated on a commercial basis by private bus companies. Provided that an operator registers a service with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner, they can operate any route to any frequency they wish. Local authorities can provide subsidy for services that are not provided on a commercial basis but this is entirely a matter for the local authority. The Scottish Government provide funding to local authorities for this purpose.
