- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23450 by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2006, whether it understands it to be possible, under the proposals for planning gain supplement, for developers and/or landowners to be exempted from planning gain supplement in circumstances where planning obligations have been entered into under section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 in order to provide funding for infrastructure which is the subject of an Act of the Scottish Parliament arising from a Private Bill.
Answer
The UK Government’s consultationpaper on a planning-gain supplement states that it is envisaged that planning obligationswould be factored into the planning value for any site. Any obligations enteredinto under section 75 would therefore be a prior charge and deducted from the calculationof planning gain supplement liability.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its understanding of the proposed planning gain supplement is that it will apply to any category, or all categories, of affordable housing development in Scotland.
Answer
The UK Government is consideringthe scope of planning-gain supplement - and any exemptions to it - in light of responsesto its recent consultation. We do not have any information at this stage about itsapplicability to affordable housing developments.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will present the information contained in Placing Requests in Schools in Scotland, 2004/05, published on 21 March 2006, in such a way as to show separately the outcome of placing requests from parents resident in the areas of the local authorities to whom the requests were made and those of requests from parents resident in a local authority area other than the one to which the placing request was made.
Answer
The information requested isnot currently collected. As part of our on-going improvement in the quality of ourstatistics we have already put in place arrangements to collect information on thenumber of placing requests made across local authority boundaries, and whether ornot they are successful. It will therefore be available in the placing requestsstatistics for 2005-06.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23450 by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2006, whether the planning gain proposed in the business case and in the Private Bill to provide powers for the Borders railway falls within the category of planning obligations which would be scaled back in the event that the Executive was to apply the same scaling back as is proposed in the consultation on planning gain supplement.
Answer
Policy on planning agreementsand future obligations under section 75 of the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997is a devolved matter. We have not come to any conclusion on whether policy on planningobligations should be amended, and will do so in the light of the consultation responsesand further discussions with the UK Government on how planning gain supplement willbe designed and implemented.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the information showing the reasons for refusing placing requests, contained in Table 8 of Placing Requests in Schools in Scotland, 2004/05, published on 21 March 2006, is collected on a local authority basis and, if so, whether it will publish the information in respect of each local authority.
Answer
The information requested iscollected on a local authority basis. A table, Placing Requests Refused by Reasonfor Refusal, All schools, by Local Authority, 2004-05, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39385).
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the city region plans proposed in the Planning Bill will be drawn up by permanent, dedicated teams of planners on the model of Glasgow and Clyde Valley or whether the alternative model employed in the Edinburgh and Lothian Structure Plan process will be used.
Answer
The Executive’s preferred modelfor drawing up the new strategic development plans (SDPs) is a joint committee anda dedicated team of officials, in order to effectively promote the best strategyfor the city region as a whole. We want these arrangements to work on a voluntarybasis and intend to issue guidance to that effect. Where voluntary arrangementsfail, the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill provides ministers with powers to direct that oneof the constituent authorities assigns someone to manage the preparation of theSDP with others assigned to assist. The Executive does not, however, intend to namespecific people or posts in this regard.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has established from Scottish Water how many development sites in local plans are constrained by a lack of water and sewerage infrastructure and whether it will provide an estimate of the number of houses which could be provided on established housing land supplies which are rendered non-effective by such constraints, in total and broken down by local authority area, what proportion of housing land supply sites will be rendered effective by the £167 million given to Scottish Water for removing constraints arising from a lack of “strategic infrastructure” and how many houses could be provided on these sites.
Answer
This information is not held centrally and would have to be collated from respectively Scottish Water (SW) andindividual local authorities. SW’s first
Annual Strategic Asset Capacity andDevelopment Plan was issued on Friday 31 March to local authorities and bodiesrepresenting the development industry. Its purpose is to provide greater clarityabout current infrastructure capacity and on future plans to enable housing andcommercial development to proceed.
Ministers have set SW the specificobjective of meeting the strategic capacity requirements of all estimated development.They require SW to provide sufficient strategic capacity to allow a minimum of 60,000new housing units and 2,025 hectares of new commercial land to be connected to thepublic network between 2006 and 2010 and a further minimum of 60,000 new housingunits and 2,025 hectares of new commercial land to be connected between 2010 and2014. This is in addition to SW’s current assessment of strategic capacity, containedin the above plan, which it believes is sufficient to allow nearly 73,000 new housingunits and 2,500 hectares of new commercial land to be connected. Further, ministershave committed to reviewing their objectives should this prove necessary.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to increase the uptake of Rural Home Ownership Grant outwith the Highlands and Islands local authority areas, particularly in Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders and the areas which include the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
Communities Scotland is takingthe following steps to increase the uptake of Rural Home Ownership Grants (RHOGs):
In Argyll and Bute, in discussionwith the Forestry Commission, we have identified sites for the provision of affordablehousing including housing funded from RHOG;
Collective RHOG schemes are beingpiloted with Registered Social Landlords;
We are looking at other formsof grant assistance, for example self-build and shared equity;
Working with Island communities,we are looking at combining a range of funds including RHOG to meet varying housingneeds;
In Scottish Borders, CommunitiesScotland has entered into an agreement for 2006-07 with Scottish Borders Councilto promote and increase the uptake of RHOG. A similar arrangement is planned withRural Housing Services, and
In rural Stirling, whichincludes the eastern shore of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Communities Scotland plans to work with Rural StirlingHousing Association Ltd on the promotion of RHOG.
More generally, Communities Scotlandhas recently produced updated Rural Home Ownership Grant brochures to help promotethe scheme in rural areas across Scotland.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the identification of sites for major mineral extractions will be included in the proposed national planning framework and, if so, whether the framework will make requirements of individual local authorities in this regard.
Answer
The Planningetc. (Scotland) Billincludes provisions requiring planning authorities to take the nationalplanning authority into account in preparing development plans. It does notprescribe the types of development which may be included in a future nationalplanning framework. No decisions have yet been taken on the content of thesecond national planning framework.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities charged with identifying sites for infrastructural or other major developments under the proposed national planning framework will be required to determine planning applications for such developments on their merits, with no reference to other potential locations, or whether they will be able to require applicants to demonstrate that applications have been lodged in respect of the optimum locations for such developments.
Answer
It is intended that theidentification of a development as a “national development” will establish theneed for the development in principle. It will still be open to the planningauthority to address locational questions in considering development planpolicies and planning applications for such developments.
