- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7983 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 15 June 2000, what funding mechanisms will be set in place to enable social landlords in designated areas to offer tenants financial assistance towards the purchase of a house on the open market.
Answer
Local authorities currently have powers under section 66 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, to offer grants to qualifying tenants of the authority to assist them to purchase a house in the private sector. Where a local authority decides to operate such a scheme it is required to find the resources from within its capital allocation for the year in which payments are to be made.
The Executive is currently considering the precise funding mechanisms that will apply to any cash incentives provided to tenants of social landlords in line with the proposals set out in paragraph 42 of the Consultation Paper Better Homes for Scotland's Communities - The Executive's proposals for the Housing Bill.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend membership of the Rural Housing National Steering Group to include representatives of local authorities in the South of Scotland and housing associations currently involved in housing development
Answer
When considering the membership of the National Steering Group, I was keen to ensure that the Group contained representatives of the relevant housing interests. Both the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations were invited to nominate appropriate individuals to serve on the Group. As it is the organisation who are the members of the Steering Group they are free to circulate the Group papers throughout their organisations and to change their nomination at any point, for example, if they wish to involve representatives from other areas of Scotland or to reflect the specific issues to be discussed at the Group. I have no plans to extend the number of members represented on the Group.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the requirement under The Contaminated Land (Scotland) Regulations 2000 Statutory Guidance: Regulatory Impact Assessment (Final) that remediation costs must be reasonable includes a commitment that enforcement will be pursued only where remediation costs are affordable to the owners or occupiers of any site in question.
Answer
An enforcing authority can only serve a remediation notice if it is satisfied that it would seek to recover all of the share of the reasonable costs from each appropriate person. If not, it has powers instead to carry out the remediation activity itself, and recover relevant costs.
Statutory guidance on the recovery of the costs of remediation is set out in Chapter E, which sets out guidance on the extent to which the enforcing authority should seek to recover the costs of any remediation activity which it has carried out. It refers in particular to how the enforcing authority should deal with the threat of business closure or insolvency to small or medium-sized enterprises.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether current concessions for empty sheep and cattle floats on Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) ferry routes represented a commercial decision by CalMac or a requirement by the Scottish Executive, and whether the specification for the new, tendered ferry services will incorporate a requirement to retain existing float concessions.
Answer
Fares concessions are a commercial matter for Caledonian MacBrayne. I understand that this particular concession was introduced following discussions between the company and the National Farmers Union of Scotland.
Decisions on the specification for tendering, including the possible incorporation of the concessions currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, will be taken by the Scottish Executive in due course. All relevant factors will be taken into account, including representations made during the recent consultation exercise and the conclusions of the review of fares structures currently being carried out by the company, at the request of the Executive.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it will issue to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and local authorities under The Contaminated Land (Scotland) Regulations 2000 Statutory Guidance: Regulatory Impact Assessment (Final) about issuing remediation notices to small businesses occupying polluted land, owned by other parties, in circumstances where the small businesses are locked into tenancy agreements predating the regulations, given that tenancy agreements may transfer potential obligations from owners and polluters to current occupiers of contaminated sites.
Answer
An enforcing authority can only serve a remediation notice if it is satisfied that it would seek to recover all of the share of the reasonable costs from each appropriate person. If not, it has powers instead to carry out the remediation activity itself, and recover relevant costs.
Statutory guidance on the recovery of the costs of remediation is set out in Chapter E, which sets out guidance on the extent to which the enforcing authority should seek to recover the costs of any remediation activity which it has carried out. It refers in particular to how the enforcing authority should deal with the threat of business closure or insolvency to small or medium-sized enterprises.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7983 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 15 June 2000, what criteria will be used in deciding which areas should be designated as areas where there are particular difficulties in meeting the demand for socially rented housing.
Answer
In the consultation paper "Better Homes for Scotland's Community - the Executive's proposals for the Housing Bill" which was published on 5 July, we explained that relevent areas would include those where there is a shortage of socially rented housing or limits on new development posed by land, planning and infrastruture constraints. We plan to refine the criteria and related procedures further in the light of advice from the National Steering Group for the Rural Partnership for Change Initiative and the working party which I announced in my speech to Scottish Federation of Housing Associations Annual Conference on 16 June.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have submitted revisions to their Structure Plans following the revised National Planning Policy Guidelines 16 and which local authorities have advised that they will submit amendments in due course.
Answer
North, South and East Ayrshire (jointly), Mid, East and West Lothian (jointly) and Dumfries and Galloway Councils have all submitted revisions. All other relevant Councils - Clackmannan, Falkirk, Fife, North and South Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross and Scottish Borders - have chosen to consider revisions in tandem with their current review timetables for Structure Plans.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to The Contaminated Land (Scotland) Regulations 2000 Statutory Guidance: Regulatory Impact Assessment (Final), whether sites placed on the public register will be classified in relation to the degree of risk and whether there will be a procedure for removing sites from the register if they are treated to appropriate standards.
Answer
Sites will be placed on the public register when remediation notices are served by local authorities, and will remain there, together with details of remediation actions which have been carried out. Special sites will be placed on the public register when they are designated by local authorities.
Sites will not be classified according to risk, and there will not be a procedure for removing them from the register once remediation has been carried out.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to The Contaminated Land (Scotland) Regulations 2000 Statutory Guidance: Regulatory Impact Assessment (Final), whether contaminated sites will be exempt from remediation notices if public access is prevented and there is no impact on controlled waters.
Answer
Statutory guidance on the definition and identification of contaminated land is set out in Chapters A and B of the guidance, which was laid before Parliament on 25 May.
For a site to be designated as contaminated, there have to exist a source, pathway and target for the contamination. The local authority will have to satisfy itself that these all exist before making its determination that the land is contaminated.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7983 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 15 June 2000, whether housing associations will have to apply to Scottish Homes or the Scottish Executive when seeking exemption from the modernised right to buy for up to 10 years; whether housing associations themselves will be empowered to select the length of time, within the 10-year period for which properties will remain exempt, and whether there will be any facility for the 10-year period to be extended by further application in circumstances where the financial viability of landlords is still felt to be threatened.
Answer
Our proposals as set out in the Consultation Paper, Better Homes for Scotland's Communities: The Executive's Proposals for the Housing Bill envisage that it will be for housing associations themselves to decide, over the 10 year period, if and when to offer their tenants the modernised right to buy and that once a decision to "opt in" had been made, the modernised right to buy would continue to be available for the remainder of the 10 year period. We do not envisage that the exemption period should be extended beyond 10 years.
