Chamber and committees

It is for the CairngormsNational Park Authority to consider planning applications. If, however, theauthority wishes to grant permission contrary to the advice of the Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency on flood risk, the application has to be notified to the Scottishministers who may call it in for their own consideration.

The consultative draftCairngorms National Park Local Plan contains policies in relation todevelopment on the flood plain.

Scottish Natural Heritage are currentlyexploring a number of options with the Rum Community Association for the provisionof housing and hostel accommodation on Rum to meet its aspirations for communitydevelopment and tourism, including various options for development of Kinloch Castle.Any proposals would be subject to the normal planning processes.

A detailed planning application for the Greenhouse hostel buildinghas been submitted to The Highland Council and is currently under consideration.At this stage, this is seen as part of a larger project involving Kinloch Castle,the nature of which would be dependent on consultation with key partners and onthe availability of funding.

The Executive is aware of thebroadband access issue in Drimnin and confirms that it is being considered as partof our wider policy approach on the reach issue. We will consider all relevant factors,including the levels of known unmet demand as well as the cost and value for moneyaspects of providing a solution. We are not currently in a position to estimatethe specific capital and revenue costs for potential broadband users in this area.

The Executive has already allocated£5 million funding to extend broadband coverage where it is currently unavailable.

We have now agreed with BT thatthey will increase broadband availability in at least 20 exchanges which have capacityconstraints, and this will extend broadband coverage to more businesses and householdsacross Scotland. This is being achieved using some of the £1.5 millionsavings from our existing BT contract.

An additional £3.5 million hasbeen allocated to support solutions for “not-spot” locations, and we are currentlyprioritising areas according to known demand as well as the costs of potential solutions.We are in discussion with the industry and are engaging with potential suppliersand broadband users in the “out of reach” clusters to ensure an appropriately designedfinal approach. Delivery will take place next financial year.

The number and nationality of over15 metre vessels boarded at sea by officers of the Scottish Fisheries ProtectionAgency in each of the last five years is given in the following table:

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
UK	659	632	530	541	496
Germany	15	16	11	14	17
Denmark	84	62	28	9	11
Spain	52	31	24	48	42
France	66	45	47	50	38
Faroe		5		3	1
Eire	12	2	11	9	19
Norway	95	44	46	47	45
Poland				2	1
Russia	5	2	10	13	8
Netherlands	11	17	11	10
Portugal			1	1
Sweden	4	1	9	1
Belgium	2		1

 

All responses to the consultation papers issued by the ScottishExecutive which dealt with tail docking have been placed in the Scottish Executivelibrary except where respondents specifically asked for their responses to be treatedconfidentially. There are no advice notes, aides memoire or notes of meetings heldfollowing the meeting with representatives of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Associationwhich took place on 30 January 2007. There was no meeting with representatives of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association in February or March 2007.

While Historic Scotland has indicatedthat it is willing to consider grant-aid for consolidation and repair of the monument,and for improving visitor interpretation, there is presently no detailed and costedscheme of works, so to offer a figure would be premature and potentially misleading.Given the importance of the site Historic Scotland is confident that if a schemewere to be agreed, resources would be found for urgently necessary work. In recentyears projects of a similar general scale have been supported through its AncientMonuments Grant scheme at castles in different parts of Scotland: for example Gylen(Argyll and Bute) and Cessford (Scottish Borders). Currently funded projects includeMoy (Argyll and Bute) and Invergarry (Highland) Castles.

Historic Scotland is expected to useits powers under the Ancient Monuments legislation pro-actively. It is not uncommonfor Historic Scotland to make it known in the course of visits of monument wardensand inspectors that support might be found for the consolidation or care of an importantmonument, even when the owner has not made a direct request for help. The grant-aidedconservation work at Moy and Cessford Castles came about after initial meetingswith the area inspector to discuss the condition and future care of the monuments.Typically, at such discussions the inspector will explain the grant applicationprocess and indicate the likelihood of a project receiving grant, although prospectiveapplicants are then encouraged to write to Historic Scotland to begin the processof formal consideration for grant.

Routinely, Historic Scotland also works with a range of communitygroups, conservation trusts and other bodies who wish to pursue the management ofkey historic environment assets which they do not themselves own, although suchbodies are required to obtain agreement from owners of sites affected by their proposalsbefore they can receive grant aid.

Information on the currenttransport projects portfolio, which is the main area of civil engineeringrelated activity within the Scottish Executive, is published on the TransportScotland website at www.transportscotland.gov.uk.

A strategic projects reviewfor all transport modes is currently in progress and consideration will be givento how information on future infrastructure programmes can best be provided to thecivil engineering industry.

Major projects which wouldbe cancelled after May 3 would of course have a highly negative impact on theinternational construction industry’s confidence in the Scottish market.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.

The estimated costs of eachof the planned strategic transport projects are provided in the reply to the answer to question S2W-29718 on 23 March 2007, which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

These are our latest best estimates based on the variousrisks currently identified for each of these projects. The final costs will notbe known until tenders have been returned and contracts completed.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-29718 on 23 March 2007, which provides our current best estimates for eachproject contained in Scotland’s transport future. All answers to written parliamentaryare available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.