Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers designated the Forestry Commission as a responsible authority, with associated duties to reduce overall flood risk under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. In Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland exercises flood risk-related functions on behalf of the commissioners through policy, regulation and grant support, with action on the National Forest Estate directed by Forest Enterprise Scotland.

Forestry Commission Scotland has contributed to the preparation of flood risk management strategies and local plans as required by the Flood Risk Management Act. These will be published in December 2015 and June 2016 respectively.

The Act also requires that flood plans take account of natural flood management measures, where the landscape and natural features are used to slow down and store flood water. Targeted woodland creation is part of these measures.

In particular, in 2015, Forestry Commission Scotland launched the opportunity mapping project that identifies areas in priority catchments in Scotland where woodland creation has the greatest potential to reduce flooding and diffuse pollution. Targeted support to deliver this work is available under the Scottish Rural Development Programme’s ‘Woodlands for Water’ grant.

Forestry Commission Scotland is also contributing to the revision of the UK Forestry Standard on forests and water. The revision will take into account the new duties for reducing overall flood risk in a forestry context.

The forestry industry has developed advice which highlights how productive private woodland can reduce the likelihood of floods. The report is available at http://www.confor.org.uk/Upload/Documents/37_TheRoleofProductiveWoodlandsinWaterManagementConforMarch2015.pdf.

Well planned and managed upland and floodplain forests and riparian woodland can play an important role in attenuating flood peaks, as well as providing many other environmental benefits. Where the flood risk management strategies have identified the potential for natural flood management actions (such as tree planting) to deliver flood risk management benefits, detailed modelling, optioneering, appraisal and design studies will be progressed. Delivery timescale and funding of these actions will be outlined in the local flood risk management plans, which complement the flood risk management strategies, and will be published in June 2016.

Resurfacing was carried out recently on the A828 approach to Connel Bridge. Supervision of the works was carried out by our operating company BEAR Scotland.

BEAR Scotland became aware of issues with the resurfaced section between the Oyster Inn and Connel Bridge on the day after completion when the material started to deteriorate under traffic loading. Technical investigations have now been carried out by the supplier leading to the identification of a problem with the surfacing materials causing early deterioration.

While the surface does not pose a safety risk to road users, it is of a poor quality and BEAR Scotland returning to the site this evening (14 December 2015) to repair it. The works will be carried out overnight to minimise the impact on traffic and will take up to three nights to complete. There are no additional costs relating to the repair.

A convoy operation will be in place to ensure that access is maintained, apart from a single short term closure of up to 30 minutes at the narrowest section on the immediate approach to the Connel Bridge traffic. This closure operation will only be required once and will be undertaken in the early hours to minimise the disruption to motorists. These repairs will be carried out at the full expense of the surfacing contractor.

The protection that the planning system affords these waters would be a matter for Argyll and Bute Council to consider through the development planning process. The council's current development plan largely takes a criteria based approach to guide proposals to the most appropriate locations. The impacts that any specific proposal might have on these areas will be a material consideration when determining any planning application. The Scottish Government will monitor the situation closely.

Excellent progress has been made in developing the technical Code of Practice for the Household Recycling Charter. I am pleased to confirm that the Scottish Government and (COSLA) have agreed the principles and content of the Code of Practice to introduce a more consistent recycling system in Scotland, which could see, for example, common bins across Scotland.

COSLA, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and officers from all 32 local authorities have been involved in the development of the Code of Practice, and the latest draft has been shared with all local authorities. We will be publishing the Code of Practice shortly, and writing to all local authorities to invite them to sign up to the charter.

I can today (9 December 2015) confirm that the MV Coruisk will again be deployed on the Gourock-Dunoon town centre service this winter. The deployment will bring additional resilience and passenger confidence to the service at a time of year when weather conditions can be more challenging for ferries.

The MV Coruisk will provide the same level of service as in previous years which I am sure will be welcomed by regular commuters. The MV Coruisk will carry passengers on key peak sailings on the route and be on standby during other periods.

Details and dates of the MV Coruisk’s deployment are being finalised by Argyll Ferries Limited and will be announced in due course.

The powers of Scottish ministers and Scottish Government agencies to acquire land compulsorily, and under what circumstances, are set out in various general Acts of Parliament. In response to the specific questions:

(a) and (b) there are existing powers under section 57 of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 that allow Scottish ministers to acquire land to ensure its full and efficient use for agriculture, to secure the carrying out of work, provision or maintenance of equipment or use of the land in conjunction with other land;

(c) Under section 39 of the Forestry Act 1967, Scottish ministers may acquire land suitable for afforestation or purposes connected with forestry;

(d) Scottish ministers do not have specific power to acquire land for such a purpose; and

(e) Scottish ministers do not have specific power to acquire land for such a purpose. However under section 39 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, Scottish Natural Heritage may acquire land which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, any other land to which a Nature Conservation Order or Land Management Order applies or any other land which is contiguous to or which Scottish Natural Heritage considers to be associated with, land of the aforementioned land type for the purpose of securing the conservation, restoration or other enhancement of any protected natural feature.

In addition to meeting the conditions set out in this legislation, Scottish ministers, or public agencies, would have to ensure that any decision to exercise these powers was compatible with their responsibilities to respect the rights of individuals under the European Convention of Human Rights, such as the right to the peaceful enjoyment of possession under Article 1 Protocol 1. This would include considering the strength of the public interest in purchasing the land and whether this is a proportionate action to take. The same considerations would arise should any new compulsory purchase powers be considered.

The Scottish Government is keen to maximise the amount of EU funds available to support broadband deployment in rural communities.

EU funding is primarily being accessed through the European Structural and Investment Funds. We will continue to explore any additional EU funding opportunities for broadband that emerge alongside these.

The Scottish Government accessed approximately £12 million from the 2007-13 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme to help deliver the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project, which is extending broadband access to rural areas. We have also allocated up to £21 million from the 2014-20 ERDF programme to support new digital infrastructure projects.

The Scottish Government is also using around £3.3 million from the 2014-2020 European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development as part of the projected £9 million Broadband scheme included as part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme. This scheme is being administered by Community Broadband Scotland and will support delivery of their pipeline of aggregated community projects.

The Scottish Natural Heritage website provides advice on Japanese knotweed identification and disposal. Detailed advice, recently revised by the Scottish Government and its agencies, on treatment of sites affected by Japanese knotweed is available on the NetRegs website which offers environmental guidance for those operating in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

We do not advise local authorities on how or where they should be acting to ensure control or eradication of Japanese knotweed. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their total resources on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Transport Scotland is not required to treat Japanese knotweed growing on the verges of trunk roads but does include relevant terms in its contract arrangements with trunk road operating companies.

As part of their contractual duties, the operating companies are required to record all evidence of Japanese knotweed occurring within their areas of operation and to develop programmes for the control of the species.