Chamber and committees

Mr Salmond’s constituency interestin this proposal commenced immediately following his election to the Gordon constituencyin May. We are giving immediate consideration to the publication of informationalongside requests made under Freedom of Information legislation. I will write toadvise when this has been made available.

On 3 December 2007 theChief Planner took a call from Mr Salmond in his capacity as constituency MSP. MrSalmond sought advice from the Chief Planner on whether it would still be permissiblefor the officials of the Scottish Government Planning Directorate to meet representativesof the Trump Organization. A request was then made by the Trump Organization representatives.The Chief Planner arranged the time and venue.

The Chief Planner made three telephone calls to the Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council on the afternoon of 4 December.  David Ferguson, Head of Planning Decisions was present during these conversations.  The first of these calls was to request an update on the status of the council''s consideration of the application.  The Chief Planner advised the Chief Executive that representatives from the Trump Organization were present in the room.  At the request of the Chief Executive those representatives of the Trump Organization left the room for the duration of the call.  The second call to the Chief Executive was to advise that the Chief Planner would be recommending to Scottish ministers that the planning application should be called in.  The third call to the Chief Executive was to confirm that the planning application was to be called in by the Scottish ministers.  The Chief Planner and the Head of Planning Decisions were the only people in the room during those telephone calls.

 

The following is the original answer (published on 20 December 2007); see below.

 

The Chief Planner made two telephone calls to the Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council on the afternoon of 4 December 2007. David Ferguson, Head of Planning Decisions was present during both conversations. The first of these calls was to request an update on the status of the council''s consideration of the application. The Chief Planner advised the Chief Executive that representatives from the Trump Organization were present in the room. At the request of the Chief Executive those representatives of the Trump Organization left the room for the duration of the call. The second call to the Chief Executive was to advise that the planning application was to be called in by the Scottish ministers. The Chief Planner and the Head of Planning Decisions were the only people in the room during that telephone call.

No.

National Indicator39 in the concordat between the Scottish Government and local government relatesto reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill in 2010, in line with the firstEU Landfill Directive target. In addition, the Landfill Allowance Scheme placeslimits on the amounts of biodegradable municipal waste which can be sent to landfill.Authorities which exceed these limits can be subject to penalties. We will, of course,support work by local authorities to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfillthrough our zero waste budget. In addition, the rising cost of landfill providesa further incentive to find other ways of dealing with waste.

Each case is consideredon its merits and penalties are not automatic. Regulation 19 of the Landfill AllowancesScheme (Scotland) Regulations 2005 lay down the penalties thatcan be levied if an authority exceeds its allowance. These penalties are £10 a tonnein 2005-06; £25 a tonne in 2006-07; £50 a tonne in 2007-08, and £150 a tonne insubsequent years. In addition, if the United Kingdom shouldfail to meet Landfill Directive targets in 2010, 2013 and 2020, the regulationsmake provision for supplementary penalties for those authorities exceeding theirallowances.

Zero waste requireshigh-levels of recycling and composting and a greater emphasis on waste prevention.Figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency show that recycling andcomposting is increasing and the amount of waste going to landfill is falling. Anumber of steps are in place to tackle waste growth such as the Scottish Waste AwarenessGroup’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign, on food waste; work by the Waste and ResourcesAction Programme with retailers on packaging and other waste; a home compostingprogramme, and work by the community recycling sector to provide advice to householderson how to avoid waste. We recognise we need to do more on waste prevention and partof the zero waste budget will be allocated to work in this area. We are also committedto further improvements to the environmental performance of the public sector asa whole.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-7154 on 13 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the memberto the letter sent on 31 October 2007 by the Accountable Officerto the Convenor of the Audit Committee. A copy of this letter can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/audit/papers-07/aup07-06.pdf.

Recycling servicescurrently funded by the Strategic Waste Fund will in future be supported throughthe local government settlement. We expect that around £100 million over the nextthree years in the centrally-held Zero Waste Budget will be used to develop infrastructurerequired to meet future waste targets.